¶ Franchise Ownership and Business Growth
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of big talk about small business . I am your co-host , because our host is actually out for today dealing with some sickness . He got the the vid . Yeah , he got the vid early this week , mr grand opening for the podcast video .
Yeah , and he was supposed to be here interviewing with the media as well , and so was Mr Saffron , who is my guest . We have guest Josh Saffron , the great , the one and only the one , and only Mr Josh Saffron , and you came by the grand opening yesterday . It was cool . It was cool , wasn't it .
Yeah , I'm , I'm proud of you . I know you a long time . I don't want the tears to flow , but but to see what you built here and the people that came through and watching you in your element last night , I mean it .
It was a problem for me as a good friend of yours , but just to see what you're doing here and you have all these visions you operated 80,000 feet Then to watch it come to life , live and see the people interacting here .
It was super cool for me to say Well , you know , it really does come down to the team , right ? I mean , we have a good team of folks here that I mean big event and they took care of everything . I mean they rocked it out . They're the ones that made it happen . So that's really cool to see .
And I saw your daughters working here . They were , and I saw her friend , molly was working here , so the whole basketball team . I'm like we're rocking the shirts and I'm like , what are you guys doing here ? I feel like , oh , we're working for Mr Howard to work for you , it's so cool .
Yeah , it is cool . I mean it's cool to see young folks engage in business .
Yeah .
You know , and I think that you know on that , because we do have some young listeners that get in there trying to start up a business and whatever thing . But you know , I think the big thing for young people is is you got to show up ?
You know , honestly , if you just show up and you stay involved and you're actually I mean because I can tell you that a lot of entrepreneurs or even business owners are looking for people that just show up and make things happen , yeah , and that's a good lesson to learn .
Well , this community and I tell my son , who's graduating high school , how this community there's a lot of who you know . Obviously you have to put in the work for the what you know , but he goes to school , he'll get a degree and he focuses .
But by knowing people like yourself and being able to get themselves networked here , this is a great place for young people to start their career because there's lots of opportunities with a little bit of hard work but knowledge of the ecosystem and the people in it .
Mm hmm , yeah , a lot of times it's just about and you know this and we'll get into your story but I mean it's just about getting you know , just taking that step forward , having that confidence . I mean you can't plan in business to have everything figured out .
That's one thing that I've learned is like there's a there's a nice balance between strategy and action . Yep , and there's . I've seen so many folks just strategically put themselves into a corner and they never actually get anything done . Then I see a lot of folks that just take action without thinking about the long term .
But you've got to find that nice little balance and you've done that with actually a couple of things I mean .
Well , first of all , I I chuck I'll do say this because I was telling somebody the story last night . You and I operate super visionary and and you and I try to get stuff done . And now we've got to a point where , like , I'll bring my wife to a meeting just so we could actually put together follow ups and things Cause .
Right , if you have two visionaries in a room together , we're spewing out amazing ideas , but the action doesn't follow through with it . So you have to surround yourself with the right people that are balancing out all your visionary ideas , with people that can take it and run with it and execute the vision .
Well , let's get one thing straight though my , my ideas are good , Yours I mean yours are amazing , mine are just if they're just half as good as yours .
I mean , I just shoot to be average some days . You should be happy for yourself All right .
So , josh Saffron yes , sir , so I know that you , you're an entrepreneur . You started up the gents place here in Northwest Arkansas , yep , and we actually interviewed the , the main franchise owner , right CEO and founder , ben Davis . Ben Davis , john Alstom , ben yeah , yeah , that was a fun episode . Mark was here for that one .
But you're you're one of the franchisees and you got involved in that . I mean , I think that that's a common , interesting business , because I mean , how did you ? Okay , let's , let's , can we go into that ? Why did you do that and what does that mean as being a franchisee ? How is that helpful for starting the business ?
Yeah , I , I I had moved here from bigger cities and when I came down here and a lot of people are I almost view it as an expat community where people are coming in from New York , chicago , boston , and I didn't like the haircutting experience here . To me it was like this Saturday to-do list go to Walmart , go to Home Depot , get your haircut .
Check off the box on the transaction Sounds like something that's what you would have done before we came here and I'm watching the women on a Saturday go and they're getting their nails done , they're wearing robes and they're drinking champagne and I said so we have to figure out that aspect of the men's grooming .
But also , being in a supplier community so long , I didn't love what I was viewing as a lot of this forced networking of hey , there's this big charity event this weekend , my buyer's going , so you need to go , and he didn't . He wanted to wave to you or she and you're waving , but not neither of you wanted to be there .
Yeah , so I said how do we create this ? Networking meets grooming , and that's really what we've done with the Gents place . Here it's like Barbershop meets Speakeasy meets Country Club and there's a huge networking aspect with lockers for members and then member lounge where we're doing really interesting meetings with folks in the community .
So let me get this right . You came from a bigger city but you probably had those experiences available there . You come to a new geography . You see something missing in the market right , entrepreneurial thinking . And then you were . Did you see that vision ? And then you found the Gents place Like you discovered it and brought it .
I knew what I wanted to do . Okay , I knew I didn't know how to mess with POS systems and when the right retail product was having a distribution network . And so I started doing a little bit of research and said do we do this on our own or do I find somebody who's got similar vision and values that I do ?
And we found Ben , went to visit him in Frisco where their headquartered , met him and his wife , lauren and Emily , and I felt it was a good pairing , good match , both on the strategy , the vision and , most importantly , the culture , on the way that the business runs and operates .
And so here we are , six years later and through COVID , with a business that my wife has left her nursing job to go operate and run .
So I think that's a really cool point , like for a lot of those aspiring entrepreneurs out there . You kind of like honestly start off a business . I mean you know this . Like it is insane , right .
Like either there's so much to do you can never get all the check marks done for the day , but being able to basically buy into a franchise like that I mean the things you talked about , the culture , the vision POS system a lot of those tops of things are already set up and going . Yeah .
It allows you to actually get to business a lot faster , doesn't it ?
Yeah , I mean , and I think you know when you have , when you're a franchisee working for a franchisor . I used to phrase a lot seeing this movie , you know how it ends . You know he has opened and run six of them on his own . So how do you recruit people ? Well , here's what we've done successfully and here's what we failed at and learned from this .
Here's how we get members to come in the door . Here's how we advertise and market to them . Don't do these things that didn't work for us , but try to utilize this strategy .
And so that's a lot easier for a franchisee as an entrepreneur , because you're seeing the successes and failures from Ben and some of the other franchisee owners that I can , I can say all right , that makes sense for Bentonville , let's follow that lead . Or this may be a different way . We want to do it , but I'm using his guidance for support .
Yeah , because you can like take some of those , those positive learnings at work , and then they're about not working in your geography , right , yes , and your community , and so you had those experiences too . Do you have an example of when you might have put a little polish on something or make a little angle to kind of fit this , this specific audience ?
Yeah , I think . I think for us , a great example was when they're in bigger markets Dallas , vegas . They're in Austin , san Antonio , houston and the airports are enormous .
Yeah .
We market here in at XNA , and it's there's better foot traffic , smaller , it's an easier airport to navigate , and so we've had success in marketing the Gens Place brand at the airport here . But I don't know that that would be successful at a DFW , for example .
Yeah , because it's just too . I mean , it's so big .
It's awesome .
It's an awesome big point , Correct .
So here I mean , we had giant poster boards up at launch and we had some stuff at baggage . There's two baggage claims here , perfect example . And so you're forcing 50% of the people to one or the other DFW .
If you're going to market at the baggage claim , I mean , you're catching a different audience , larger numbers , but I think here you're segregating people right where you want to see them .
That's pretty cool man . So whatever you've seen , that's really like like whenever you did those adaptations , like , did you come up with a new pricing or any new programs for the area specifically , or how does that work ?
I mean , that is one of the things with the as the franchisee is , you really have to stick to the brand status and the guidelines , and so the example that Ben used while we're opening is hey , if you think you can make a lot of money selling hot dogs , great , but you can't do that because it's not what , it's not core to what we're trying to do .
So we're figuring out right now , I think , the member lounge and the locker space and the networking aspect and trying to figure out how to become bigger than what just a barbershop is and figuring out how to utilize that space .
Had a coffee meeting yesterday at heroes , next door , and there's people and there's noise and there's bustle and all the things happening .
But in the Gents place you have a better environment where you can start to have conversations and talk numbers and financials and angel investing in an area where you can kind of control it , as opposed to in town here at a coffee shop where there's just so much hustle and bustle and oh , you see you sitting over there .
So we're trying to figure out that aspect of it , which I think is the next generation , of where the Gents place is going .
That's really
¶ Networking and Entrepreneurial Thinking
cool . So that's kind of like as an entrepreneur , entrepreneurial thinking you have this space , you already got all your core stuff going right , and then you start finding ways to basically amplify or take advantage of the strengths that you have in your spot . Maybe the rest of the market doesn't .
So it's not just about the original idea right , which you brought to the market . You saw the need , but then as you get in there and you start working the business , you stay tuned .
Well , and it clicked for me like a couple of times , because with through plug and play , we do a lot . We'll talk plug and play in a bit , but we do a lot of stuff in the investing and startup space and so we brought in a really hot startup in the area into the member lounge that you presented in the barbershop in the member lounge .
Too much of an angel investors I think you were actually in that meeting right , you wouldn't do that in a traditional barbershop , not at all . I don't even think about it . It doesn't make sense , right ? It's like you bring something into a barbershop . I'm getting my haircut , but now you're able to utilize that space for entrepreneurship .
I think my favorite story that I may have shared with you is I was meeting with the chief technology officer from a startup and he goes where do you want to go ? Let's go get coffee . I go , let's go sit in the member lounge at the Gens Place . So we walk in . It's like four o'clock on a Thursday .
We have a glass of bourbon and sitting across from us is Sam , the CEO and founder owner of the Butter Biscuit , which is the hot one of the hottest places in town . Super cool dude member there . We're chit chatting and now we're talking about business . We're talking about the community , we're talking about the region , and then who pops down sitting next to us ?
But Asa , oh , are you serious ? Former governor running for president at the time . So now we've got the four of us sitting there and all of a sudden we start talking the economy . We're talking COVID , we're talking about what's going on in the elections , we're talking about Afghanistan , and you go , we're in a barbershop .
Yeah , but , it's brought this entrepreneurial spirit and this ecosystem around , the way that people are networking here in the community , and that was a really proud moment for me . But none of that was scripted , it all just happened .
I think this is kind of actually just kind of hits me the value of this conversation for an entrepreneur , right , because we again , there's so many things to think about . I mean , heck , even the tax part , getting licenses from the local and state government and feds , all these different things that come in if I'm wanting to start a business .
But the most important thing , I think you and I both believe in this network Building , that network showing up right , and what you're kind of doing is is you're creating a place for that . But if I'm trying to start a business , I mean it would probably be pretty valuable for me to join , you invest into the Gents place , to become a member there .
Now you're introduced into this network opportunity . But then what do you have to do ? You have to show up and then , when you show up , then you have to talk to people .
Yep , I mean , it's this like-minded Gents , right ? And so I'll tell you the funny story which you could appreciate . It's just happened yesterday . So there's a guy that I have gotten to be friends with solely through the Gents place and he has a big HR job at a big company in the community and so I've known him from there .
Hey , how are you Good to see you ? And then so he's hearing me talk and seeing me do some podcasting . So he reaches out and says I'd love to learn more . He shows up last night at the grant opening and now it's a connection for you about potentially podcasting .
He doesn't realize how much work I'm doing in my day job with plug and play , so he's now intrigued in what we're doing and interviewing me , so to speak , to get him connected within his company . And then he brings me a friend of his who works for another company in the supply chain space .
So it's valuated for him through the networking to you and potentially doing podcasting . I have now leads with two different companies that I could influence on the plug and play side , all because of this networking that started by me spending 10 minutes with him at the Gents place .
That's crazy , isn't it ? Yeah , and I think here's what's great . What I like about you and I having this conversation now is because I know that we both understand the value of it . But then I've been to so many events like where folks just close up when they get around to the people . Do you have any perspective or advice , like how ?
Like , okay , you go to an event , there's a lot of people there . What I mean ? That there's this emotional barrier that a lot of people face , but you break through it every time like you're good at it . So there's probably a lot of entrepreneurs that aren't good or comfortable in that situation . But how do you overcome your own self barriers ?
Because you've definitely had to do that .
There's not anything magical about I think it's a couple of things . I mean , I get invited to lunches , coffees , networking , and so you sort of pick the ones that you wanna go to . Otherwise you're gonna burn out super quick . But I think one thing I've learned in being here in this community for 12 years is you don't wanna be overbearing on the sale .
It needs to take a little bit of time , and so yeah , that's good . And you agree with that . And so what I mean by that is had somebody showed up with this in a new individual I introduced last night and said hey , you want a podcast ? Here's the pricing . I wanna sign you up . It would have been such a turn off .
But if you're talking about the vision and how it could help him in long term and maybe you don't close the sale on that moment , but over a period of time your equity with this individual is growing so much . I had a great meeting the other day with a guy and I've chatted with him a couple of times Good to see you .
We just got some funding for plug and play in the healthcare space . That's great . Let's grab coffee . I'd like to work with him . So he reached out to me and goes hey , we'll grab coffee on March 4th .
So I didn't sell anything in the moment , but it's set up an authentic relationship where I knew that down the road , as trust is built and equity is built , there's an opportunity that he is now more interested in me as opposed to I'm selling something on the fly and I'm so turned off by it .
It's so funny to me because it's simple , right , like this whole economy , all the technology and all this stuff is moving so fast and there's all these pitches going on . You got investors that are investing this and that , but at the end of the day , if you said it , establishing that credibility , right , and how do you ?
And you can't go into it with a quick sell mindset , like you and I . Actually , like when we first met , I mean it wasn't like hey , man , buy this from me . It's like hey , I'm Eric , this is what I do . This is where I was born , where I was raised , what I've been doing all my life , and I want to know this about you .
And then , because I think it's really important , like you need to be able to trust who you're working with . At the end of the day , it doesn't matter how big the company is , that sign on the check . They want to know and people like doing business with people that they like and that they trust and they can believe in . They're not gonna fail them .
Yep , but here's the challenge that comes along with that is somebody that's working for somebody else in many cases has a quota , has a number , has a sale that they have to hit for the day , and so they have to figure out how to balance that I have numbers and KPIs and results and bonuses and commissions versus the longterm
¶ Sales and Community Engagement Strategy
. I always talk about relational selling versus transactional selling . I love the relational selling . It does take time , but I think those are the ones that you want to partner with longterm , understanding that you still have to sell stuff today to pay the bills tomorrow . It's gotta be a good balance , but I prefer the relational piece quite a bit .
Well , and I think that too , when you look at sales so I'm gonna make this point as an entrepreneur , maybe you'll agree with this I mean , ultimately , your biggest job as the entrepreneur is sales . No doubt you have to be the number one salesperson .
You're campaigning , all this type of stuff , so you're involved in everything , but you cannot ever let go of that sales . You always have to know that you're spotting that and what I kind of like about the whole sales thing and you're a little bit more of a mathematician than I am . I know Two plus two that is .
But I mean , like if you were , if you talk about KPIs or you have sales quotas that you gotta meet because you gotta drive revenue , especially if it's your own business and you're thinking that way .
But if I were in that spot , I would say , okay , if I start out with zero connections in the community , the first thing that I'd be doing is I know that I must show up . I've got to go , start building relationships , shaking hands , kissing the babies , right , all that stuff , just like you're in politics or something .
You have to be in those places and show up and then , as you start building that network and that community , you've shaped all these hands , then you're gonna start getting meetings of where you can actually go in and demonstrate your capabilities and et cetera .
But I'll see a lot of people that go fill that bucket up of relationships and they drop it off and now they get over here in this transactional mindset without ever nourishing over in the relational mindset .
Yeah , I think it's being your authentic self and understanding it . I think what's interesting is Emily , as a great manager who runs Emily , and I have a great manager who runs the Jens place and we never talked to her about how much did you sell today or what did you sell today .
And the model is unique is if you bring in and have a culture where you have happy people working there , they come to work with a smile , they provide a great service . On Eric Howerton Eric Howerton leaves feeling empowered , confident , and then Eric is going to spend money right .
So when you build it that way and you create something that's real and tangible , where it's enjoyable to go to work and you feel valued at work but then this is the relational side of stuff those things end up paying the transactional element of the bills that are due for rent and payroll and everything else .
So it's a really interesting way to do it , but that brings credibility to you and your business because you're creating an environment that people want to be a part of .
At the end of the day , people buy things because they're getting value from it . In your business with the Jens place , it's the experience . I come there , I come as a member and I have an experience and I leave with that confidence .
I leave with that good experience and so it's not a question if I'm going to continue membership or I'm going to come in , or even when I leave , and there's all these products on the shelves there , like it's there in front of me , and I just had a good experience with professionals and these are the products that Jens place is selected , and so I'm actually
expecting the same value of those products that I got , just with the service in the bag .
Yeah , and the way that we try to explain it . And they get very intimidated . When Eric Howerton comes in , successful business person , they get a little intimidated of how do I sell to Eric ? And we just explain it to them . Think of yourself as the doctor , right . Think of yourself as the nurse that's prescribing Eric .
You went to the doctor and they give you this prescription . Thank you To fill out , and you don't go get Advil . You get the prescription because that's what you're telling . So if Shelley or Maggi or whoever is cutting your hair and says , eric , in order for you to maintain this look at home , you need to take this , you're gonna go , okay .
Okay , right , you guys , you don't know any better . That's not where you may be a business executive that's closing multi-million dollar deals , but they're an expert in this space that's educating you on the way to recreate this . Look , it's the same thing . You're not gonna go get Advil when the doctor's prescribing this prescription to you . That's right .
It's simple , it's really simple . I think we overcomplicate it . Yes , very much so . And then when , as a company gets bigger , they start overcomplicating because everybody's watching the numbers , everybody's got these quotas , all these things to meet . But at the end of the day , I mean , it is about that one-to-one relationship .
I mean , and you can do a one-to-many right . That just happens , like if you're selling to a bigger company and you have one contact that can then control bigger things , that's a good thing . But that's still that relationship is so critical to that .
Absolutely 100% .
You and I think very much alike in this space , so on at Gents Place . What's cool that you guys are kind of innovating right now , like on the service product side , or whatever you might be doing .
I think the biggest thing that we have done in the last two years is really go back to the focus on the community and Emily , my wife and business partner . She started 501C3 .
Oh really , and we've hosted two events now in the community to give back and as you know how important that is here , and so we've done two bourbon tastings , steak dinners , and we've raised .
Last event last year we netted $50,000 to charities in one evening and so again , it's sort of hubbed through the barbershop but it's a 501C3 that is utilizing the networking from there and the events have been just what's the nonprofit that she's ? So it's the 501C3 that she started and the charities that we're focused on .
One are veterans based and one is pancreatic cancer . So every year we have a . Half goes to a veterans charity and then half goes to Pancan . And when these people come in the first year we did it the lady from Pancan came in and she was expecting like 1500 bucks . And we walk in and we hand her a check the first year for 15,000 and she started crying .
And this is all through one evening , one event in town , where again we talked about the authentic networking 80 dudes hanging out , drinking bourbon , eating steak and bidding on things for local charities . It's wonderful . So it's been a big passion and the ability for us to give back in the community is really important .
You know , when you research a lot of the successful entrepreneurs , you know wealthy individuals , whatever it might be . I mean , if they didn't , what makes them gives them satisfaction is helping others , you know . And so I mean I think that that's awesome that you guys are doing that , and I mean it's fantastic to do that .
It gives you personal value and being able to help other people out . That .
Well , you've been in this community a long time . I mean , you see , there's folks that are very fortunate , knock on wood . And then there's others that are less fortunate and I know that you came up similar upbringing to me , that you didn't have what you have today .
Yeah , and I and you have the opportunity to make this community better and do things for others in a great area that we live and super important , and it means a lot .
Emily , last year , through the Gens Place , she went and purchased , procured like 80 turkeys that she went and delivered to Title III schools and walking in with turkeys for Thanksgiving and watching these , the principles , the tears , as we're giving turkeys . We don't give cash because you never know where the cash is going to end up .
You give somebody a turkey that can make a Thanksgiving meal through the Gens Place . How rewarding is that . And , by the way , it's a barbershop , right . But we're doing all these other cool things .
You know , I think that that same mentality of like , if you can set up a business and this is kind of my philosophy these days I don't know about you , but I like starting businesses that I know is going to help people , whether it's in business or even folks that might have , you know , might have less fortunate circumstances , but also just people that are
trying to do businesses right . I mean like having that vision of where , ultimately , your product or your service that you're developing and selling is helping somebody else , continue to achieve and just do better for them . I mean , I think that's the right approach period 100% , 100% , 100% . Yep , so talk to us a little bit about Plug and Play .
So you got Gens Place that you own , right , you're a busy guy . Gens Place that you own , we just talked about that and then . But you also work with Plug and Play .
Yeah , gens Place we opened six years ago and this kind of like you , it was my strategy and vision idea . We worked with Ben . Emily left her job at nursing and she sort of runs the day-to-day operations and we have a great manager .
So I can kind of watch what's going on from 30,000 feet and sort of swoop in when she has a marketing requester and needs help with some strategy and vision . Plug and Play is my job . Plug and Play is what I'm spending my time on . It's an interesting business model . It's a VC out of Silicon Valley .
ACB in venture capital .
Capital . Yes , thank you , and the CEO , who you had met up with when he was in town .
He's such a cool guy .
He's like the second investor in Dropbox and some of these companies . He's writing 50,000 checks , turning them into tens of millions of dollars , and he said there's something there about the startup ecosystem and helping mentor these folks . Plug and Play does . Here in Northwest Arkansas we have a team of five that's focused in the supply chain vertical .
We have 20 plus verticals all around the world focused on insure tech , fintech , supply chain , crypto , and we started a sports tech one in Frisco , working down there by the Cowboy Stadium , and we mentor and accelerate startups . But what we do that's unique is we then partner and marry them up with corporations that are looking for help to solve challenges .
So give you an example we do a lot in the robotics space , so folks are looking to figure out how to automate the entire supply chain network .
There's not a lot of people when you stand up at a conference and say who grew up wanting to unload trucks by hand or who wanted to case pick or piece pick on a line , and so there's a labor issue labor shortage there .
So we're spending a lot of time in the robotics space helping figure out how to automate in the supply chain , and the startups we're working with all around the world can help solve these problems quicker and faster for these corporations .
So , if I get this correct , plug and plays is the more of it is .
I guess it's kind of a half and half job , Like you're constantly working with the big corporations and really just trying to understand their bullet point of problems that they're facing , because I mean there was a really big problems for them and it's hard for big corporations to probably innovate and to be entrepreneurial right .
I mean we see that a lot but it's kind of that's a hard nut to crack . I think very , very few major corporations have really done that .
They all say they do , they all have teams to do it and some of them do it very well . But when you're a cruise ship I always use this example right and you're going due East and you wanna turn the big cruise ship , it's hard to do .
But you have a speed boat or a motor boat , which is what the startups are , and they can turn and move on a dime and super entrepreneurial fast thinking and so they're trying to solve a specific problem . And when you could marry that up with a corporation that's got money to do a pilot and then a commercialize it , it's really a good match .
But you have the most important thing for plug and plays working closely with this company to understand exactly what they're trying to solve
¶ Startups and Corporations
. We worked with somebody that said , hey , I wanna solve , I'm in a robotics space , I'm like dude that's at like 6 million feet up in the air and I need you to pull that back to a level where I can digest it , because there's so many things happening in that space right now . What are you really trying to solve ?
How early of a startup are you looking for Meaning ? Are you like pre-seed and seed like really early ? Or do you need case studies from somebody that's been doing years and years and years of work with other companies , and what is your tolerance for risk .
And then let's bring them together for you in the form of what we call a deal flow , or sitting down and doing formalized introductions .
That's so cool , Such a huge value to the entrepreneur too . Because I mean a lot of times like as if you're an entrepreneur , start up in that space , I mean you're like man , I got a great solve here , I can solve this problem . Then it all of a sudden becomes I can solve a hundred different problems .
And if I'm trying to go out and build my business and then you're talking to all these major corporations or even other businesses like you're now the one that has to crystallize that and that takes significant amount of time , yeah , and expertise .
Well , well , here's what I love . So if a startup is saying that that we work with , whether we invest in them or don't invest in , so we invest in a small percentage of the ones that we keep within our global network . Some of them we think we want to , we want to invest in and partner with , and other ones were just networking and introducing .
But imagine that you're Eric Howard in a startup A , b and C . You have this really cool product and you say , geez , I love an introduction to Maersk , I love an introduction to Procter Gamble , I love an introduction to Nike , I love an introduction to Mercedes , but you don't know how to do that . Do you think they're taking a phone call from you ?
Or are they taking a phone call from folks like us who have this global network where there were 550 companies like that that we're working with , across their entire innovation team ? And that's the value , one of the main values that we provide to the startups is making these introductions .
Yeah , because , like if I was a big corporation and I know I can talk to one person or one company that's got multiple opportunities , like my time is valuable at the High High Corporation , right , and I've got this problem or these problems I have to solve , it'd be great to have five problems I need to solve , talk to one company like Plug Play , and then
you have this network and you can kind of help you're helping me marry that as well as a corporation .
Well , think about this for a second . Add a good chuckle , because we were in front of a potential customer and somebody at a senior level in the organization said we need to get ourselves more embedded and understand the robotics space . Great , okay , so that's a top down request . So this guy tells me he's on Google all day Googling the top robotics companies .
So now he's outreaching to these companies . Oh yeah , I can do that . Oh yeah , so I offer pennies on the dollar . So now he's like this is too good to be true . But so he doesn't know what he doesn't know . And , of course , this company is going to say I got a call from a big corporation , sure , I could do .
What we do is we source and vent all these companies and then we go I , yes , you called company A and they're good , but I have four case studies with company B and C that are probably more relevant and I've seen their work and I could tell you this is a better fit for you than this company .
So we're finding the companies for them , we're vetting them out and we're making recommendations as to who the best one is for you and why , as opposed to you Googling startups in the robotics space and picking up the phone and making calls and not knowing what's going to be on the other end of the phone .
You know all right , so let's get into the entrepreneurial side , like these startups . If so , if I was listening to this show right now and I was a tech startup , I'd be like geeking right now because I'd be like man , I need to get tapped into plug and play because here they have they have all these connections with these corporations Super great opportunity .
But I want to connect with you as a startup , like how do how do I approach you Like and how can you help me ? Or I mean , do I need to ? What kind of ? What kind of credibility do I need to have ? Do I even approach you ? What's that process look like ?
I think I get lots of requests on this stuff , and so I am the guy that's managing the corporate relationship here in Northwest Arkansas , and so we have a team , a venture team , solely focused on startups in the supply chain space .
So I'll get people in the community coming to me with ideas and I'll say not the right fit for plug and play , you're too early . You know . You have an idea that you wrote down on a piece of paper . Okay , come back to me when you have a business plan . And you have a business plan and you have a little bit further out .
So what is what is that ? That ? When you say a business plan a little bit further out of the ideation , so the first thing is what problem are you trying to solve ?
Okay , right , that's the most important thing to me is there's an issue that I'm trying to solve Okay , that makes sense From a fountain . Then I want to see who the founder is like . What's your ? And ? I'm brand new , but I have three or four different mentors . One graduated from Harvard and has three exits , you know one .
One's a robotics expert in supply chain . So , okay . So now I see you got a group of people that are giving you guidance , that are believing in your product and your brand Because they checked you out , correct , okay , so you want to understand that too . Those are the like early things to me . What problem are you trying to solve ?
Who are you and kind of who is backing you from an ideation standpoint ? Um , and then then the next piece is like what is your launch plan and how are you trying to get out to market and what's your competitive playing field look like ?
Okay , so you may have a really cool idea , and I can go into our proprietary software called Playbook , and , and , and type in what you're trying to do . Hey , there's 37 startups that are doing this and they're all further ahead than you . You may want to tweak , or you may want to think about something else .
Uh , you may want to find a way that you're going to differentiate yourself than the other 37 . So those are the early conversations that I like to be a part of , and if I find something that I find of interest here , roland parsed that off to our venture team and say do you want to have a conversation ?
And at that point they then say Josh , I think it's investable for us . Remember , we're pre-seed and seed , so we're very , very early . Okay , let's have a meeting , or ? Probably not investable . And here's why .
Well , let's put them into our Playbook , where a corporation may then get an introduction to them from anywhere around the world , because a company like Avalvo may be looking to solve this . And we find them in our , in our database .
Yeah , that's so cool , so I'm getting kind of excited about this . For , for any listener , right , like so do I have to hit if you're pre-seed and seed , like like first of all , for an entrepreneur like I was talking to somebody about this the other day , this little little little sidetrack here .
But I was at an investor gathering a couple of months ago and we had a bunch of investors in the room , right , really smart people , you know , and they got , and all these investors , you know investment groups have a lot of investment capital and they're looking to invest . You know , as an investor , you want to be able to place money and make it work .
Correct .
Right and you want to make multiples on that . It's just the way the shit goes Quickly , quickly and with highest returns possible . That's what all of it's about . The problem that I saw in that room was is okay , I remember me being an entrepreneur , you know , or as an entrepreneur , I don't know anything about raising capital .
I don't know anything about the way all these , this , this other world , works in the whole financial industry . I just know I have an idea , I have a market need that I will solve . I can go solve that .
And so what I did not know , especially in the early days , was how to even raise capital and , to be honest with you , a lot of the the VC firms , private equity firms , all these different ways to access capital was really intimidating .
There's so many acronyms , there's so many levels , and you said pre seed and C , then there's series A and B and there's all these things going on and I felt like in that room it kind of dawned on me . It was like where are the founders ? The founders weren't in the room .
That's kind of like one of the big problems , right , because a founder can be from so many walks in life and I think that there are some professional founders out there , right yeah , that are going down kind of Multiple exits , yeah , with multiple exits . But then what about this genius ?
Because a lot of times I see the founders that really like I mean , why didn't Bezos right , or why didn't Sam Walton or any of these other , or Elon right , like in the very beginning they didn't know anything about all this stuff . But , man , I mean , wouldn't you love to have been one of the first investors on those folks ?
But this is where , when I talked earlier with you , I said that when you and I sit down , we need somebody else to be in it , Because you and I are very similar in the way that we think you and I , if we founded a company together , it would not go well , because we both have this similar thinking , similar mindset .
So I was just mentoring a startup company through one of the programs here recently and these guys were good . They had a really good idea and there were three founders and they were all the exact same . They all were the sales guy each of them . And I said guys , I said I love you and I love your idea .
Yeah , and they said what mentorship advice can you give me ? I go bring in somebody that understands the investment in finance space . Yeah , bring in somebody that understands the marketing space . They don't have to be an employee , but you guys are all really good , but you're all in the same lane , yeah .
And so bring in a diverse team , whether they're where somebody that you're hiring or somebody that's mentoring you , or somebody that's a paid consultant , somebody that's an infractional role , but bring somebody in that rounds you out so you can get through all of these things .
Because , to your point , if you don't know the investment space , don't try to figure it on your own . Bring in an expert that can help .
Yeah , no , absolutely . And so , all right , let's go back .
I'm sorry I sidetracked a little , matt , but are you telling me that if , if I am a founder and I have an expertise and I see a market need in robotics or whatever it might be , I could literally have just a plan that I've kind of written out about the problem , the market need , and I've done my thinking .
You need , you need these founders to do their thinking right and do homework , look at the competitive landscape . They do their own Google , they do all this . They need to spend the time to basically build out this plan of what they see that the solve of the market is , have their network of advisors with them and so putting that on the resume .
But I could literally bring you something that has zero revenue . I haven't even gone out to the market or selling , but I could go and say hey , josh , here's my idea , here's how I think it's going to work .
Do they need to perform a two Like say , hey , look , I'm if I get X amount of dollars , or this is kind of my revenue scale here and this is what I see , the market opportunity . So they need to come with that too , right
¶ Navigating the Startup Funding Landscape
, yeah ?
You have to have . I mean you can't just have an idea . It's just too early . I mean that's the first place I want to start talking to somebody . But you actually have to have some revenue , you have to have business , you have to have so humors . You do have to have all of that stuff . You have to be yeah . I mean to be that's . That's really investable .
Otherwise , you're just a really cool idea .
Glad we , I'm glad we touched on that . No , no , no , no , it's fine . I mean the deal is is like . I mean I think this was valuable about this podcast , right ? Is that if somebody's sitting here listening to this that you're not getting , or even any investor is not getting , or even a bank , or getting phone calls of where you're having to spend that time ?
It'd be so great if you had five founders that came to you , already had the pieces in place to talk to you , you know , and they need to understand these different investment groups right , like you wouldn't do the same thing to a private equity group , correct ?
Right .
You want to have like years of business and it's got all this stuff and they're going to help take it to another level .
Yeah , One of the things I'm seeing a lot of momentum on in the community is exactly this there's a lot of smart founders that don't know how to start , where to go , who to do ? Do I talk to startup junkie ? Do I talk to plug and play ? Do I talk to endeavor ? How do when do I talk to Nelson Peacock and Seraphino at NWCouncil ?
How do I get my funding through the Arkansas Economic Development Council ? When do I reach out to the Walton Family Foundation ? Yeah , I hear the Walton family has RCC , and when do I go see them ? New Road Capital there's a lot of noise . Angels 412 . There's a lot of spaces .
So I think that the community is trying to do a better job in helping put together a roadmap of where you start , how you move . Some companies are starting to put that stuff in place to make it easier , as you come up with your idea , follow these steps . So there's a lot of work being done in that space right now . Where's that ?
resource at today . Or is it live , or is it coming off ?
Endeavor is doing some work in that space . They did a lot of interviews last year . They recently launched something . I don't know how widespread it is . Ok , the U of A has spent a lot of time in this space as well , so I think it's done . I just don't know that it's out there as it needs to be shared right now .
Ok , I could be wrong on that , but I know there's been a lot of thinking and work that's gone into this space .
Well , I can say , if you're listening to this podcast , I think what would help us here if you shot us a note and say you're interested in this , because I think that there's opportunity here to demystify the roadmap .
I mean , you can be a founder , there is a founder or there are founders , but then there's the way to get capital and grow and scale a business and fund the business . Do you meet all this stuff like we need that roadmap right and be cool to have another podcast when we kind of start to mystify on that and and how can you get this thing launched ?
Much the right ways to go . I think they could be heck of freaking podcasts of its own .
Yeah , I mean , if there's a program called gore up the greenhouse outdoor recreation programs , yeah , that's a Phil Schell hammer . Yeah , and you're familiar with that for some of your passion work , it's great . And so what they do is they're they're starting this stuff . Really , he's works for the university .
Yeah , they're catching these guys early with ideas , they're putting him with mentors , they're they're trying to get , they're getting them through an accelerator . And then , when they get through with the program , what are the next steps ? Well , is it a ? Is it a plug-and-play ? Is it a startup junkie ? Like , where do you , where do you go ?
Once you've sort of been through this program and it's a great question , like , yeah , what , what is next ? And and where do you go ? There's a company in town called lives in . Andrew is a fantastic Entrepreneur . He does some great outdoor men's clothing . Hmm , it's a fantastic story and he's investable . People have now written him checks in the community , hmm .
And he's a local guy with a brick and mortar and an e-commerce business over on 8th Street . You got a great brand , great products , and people are now writing checks to him in his program . All right , here in Benville .
That's fantastic , man . So Plug-and-play like , is it ? So if I'm a founder , I got an idea . All this stuff we talked about in the tech space , some of the things you mentioned Can I go to a resource with plug-and-play to understand ? If you're the right folks , I need to reach out to do my homework before I Ping Josh Safran .
Yeah , I mean there's . There's in-bound email through our website . You know we're plug-and-play tech center , so there's ways to find us .
You could find me directly here in the community Cool you kind of and when you go out to the website , figure out which vertical that you're looking to solve we again are you in a sustainability space food average , new materials and packaging and look at some of the areas that we're focused on and solving .
It's all out there on the website , okay , and then reach out to me locally and I could funnel you into things
¶ Entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas
. Additionally , on the supply chain specifics up front , we do a major event here every year , yeah , and we've great event to co-host it , thank you .
We're co-hosting it with the University of Arkansas on the supply chain school , nice , and it's April 25th at the momentary and we already have two amazing keynote speakers and we have over a hundred people signed up Over two months out .
So this will be a 400 person event and if you want to see plug-and-play live in action , come to the event register it's no charge on April 25th .
Well , I'll keep you a VIP seat . Thanks bro , I appreciate that it's pretty cool anything , for you had to put the two on the spot on the biggest podcast in the networks right now , just so you could give me an invite . Done , I appreciate , so that's really cool .
I think that what I'm also trying to get across to any entrepreneur is do some homework , like you , like in your late nights or whatever you're doing right . Do your research , look on the sites , understand who you're about to approach .
If you're trying to erase capital , or if you have an idea and you need that capital , or you need to understand what stage you're at and , even when there's not a roadmap available , build your own roadmap . Understand this a little bit . And then you need to start investing your time , yep , so that I can have a good conversation with you when I meet .
Because , in all honesty , if I have a shot at meeting with Josh Saffron right , it would be much better if I came , and I'm new about plug-and-play what you're trying to do , what's your mission , your values , who you're connected with and I can align my problem , salute my solution to a problem With you . You're gonna be impressed in that meeting , right ?
Yeah , and I'm a soul it kind of go back on our previous conversations . I , as a founder bring Josh Saffron value . That's a good way to start a relationship .
Absolutely . And I'm not talking about buying me coffee , right , I must not just coming . You come to me . And the two things again . If you're bootstrapping , right , you don't need any funding whatsoever at all . But you have an idea and you want to get in front of Nike or Walmart or General Mills or like that ? Like great , bring me that avenue .
If you're looking for an early investment , come to me . So I almost like two pitches . So , yeah , one is an investable pitch and one is a pitch that I can then share with corporations as to why you're gonna help them solve problems , and I don't really care which one or where you're looking to go .
And when we invest in companies also , we don't take any equity . So that's another really zero , okay .
How the hell does that work ? Sorry for my bad language .
No , no , I mean some , some accelerators . They'll , they'll , they'll ask for a piece of the company . We are gonna invest and and buy Parts of the company , will be an investor and preceding seed , but but to go through our program as an accelerator , we don't ask for any , any equity in the company .
So there's two levels , right , like you can get into what you called that . We would you call this the software , the network playbook , playbook , yeah , so to get in the playbook . You're not , you're not getting anything out of that , this zero .
I mean the start , the start something . So it's too good to be true , but but our business is one , we're investing in you and we're gonna make money on the exit . Or two , we're gonna get our corporate partners to to contract with us , yeah , and so then we're gonna introduce you to corporate partners .
So the startups are almost like it's too good to be true and the answer is it is . You get to come through us , get into our network , learn , grow , mentor and then be pushed out into the real world to get you either the investments that you need or Relationships and introductions to corporate partners .
So all this is a side's business model they set up for yep , did he's ? I'll load it . We gotta have a mama shows he is .
I tell you he is incredibly smart . Like , yeah , his brain , the stuff that goes on . We had . We had a company that I had introduced , introduced him to , and we were just walking through our corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley . He didn't know that these people were here . He didn't know who they were .
I introduced them to him and he goes oh , I almost invested in something that you invested in years ago . And they go , oh , yes , it's doing very well for us . And he goes it's worth X today , right , and they go , yeah , like to the penny . So this is a company that , like he didn't know , was walking in the door .
He didn't know the startup that that they had invested in . Like he had done no homework and he knew that specific company , what it was worth , and he was almost like , say , I wish I'd invested in them . How did he know that ? I'm like I don't know how . He like it was amazing . No prep work , nothing .
Yeah , yeah , that's awesome , man . It's just what here's . Here's the thing , josh , what I would say to any entrepreneur founder and you're thinking about getting into the entrepreneurism space .
If nothing else , it's fantastically fun and you get to meet some of the coolest people that are out there , the movers and shakers , people that are wanting to make a difference , add value , make changes , make things better . I mean it's great to be in that group of folks .
It's energizing , you know , and I look at it as like it's an honorable experience To look back at my career and just see the hundreds of people , thousands of people that have met along the way and been able to provide value back to , and then I mean it's just , it's rewarding , it's absolutely when I would tell you , having come here almost 13 years ago as a
CPG selling to Walmart Until about two to three years ago , I didn't realize how vast the entrepreneurial startup ecosystem is here in Northwest Arkansas .
There's so many things happening with Walmart , from buying and selling as a Clorox and a Coli and all these other ones but and it's fantastic and it's what built this community to where it is but watching the innovation and watching what's going on , whether it's in the outdoor recreation space , whether it's in some of the stuff we're doing in supply chain , all the
health tech stuff that's going on right now , with what Alice Walton is doing and involved in there's a whole other world out there , above and beyond , incremental to what's going on in buying and selling at Walmart and all the great stuff that Tyson and JB Hunter doing I am so blown away by all the thinkers , all the entrepreneurs and all the visionaries .
They're continuing to evolve this community versus where it was 10 , 15 years ago man .
I'd even say that , even like in the last few years , and plug-and-play was one of the originators of Initiating this investment . You know we brought together that bridge right . You can now be an entrepreneur , founder with an idea and you have somebody that you can go approach to help fund and Capitalize that and get that network .
You were talking about that network to me . I would say , like what I'm ?
I'm almost I'm super interested in that network , right , if I would have had that back in the day I could have fast-forward so much of my six , you know , my any success that I had , you know , by the years , you know painful , painful experience , a lot of circumstances , trying to get connected with the right people .
That Time is the most precious currency in the world .
Yep , and that's as that , and you're amazing at it and it's one of the things I love best if I can introduce somebody to somebody that can help further the individual , the economy , the community .
¶ Entrepreneurial Community Connection and Support
Everybody in Northwest Arkansas is really focused on that so many people , and it's amazing what this group can solve together .
Right , everybody getting out of their own amount of coffee meetings I'm having , and I know you do the same thing , where you're trying to Network with somebody to somebody else and figure out what they can do , and that person that introduces you to someone and then they Should have someone else and you go , wow , right , like , it's like almost like the Kevin Bacon
six degrees of separation here . Oh , you know Eric Howard's in . Oh yeah , how do you know them ? Yeah , this is how he can help you , or I can help you , or he can help this whole ecosystem . You go wow , like , and this stuff doesn't happen in New York City , right , it's just so big and vast .
Yeah , this community is perfect for this whole thing man , I just want to State on record Thank you for everything you do , because I mean you really live this out like I mean you're I mean just even yesterday You're helping me and I appreciate that and I mean I think that anybody that's listening to us , that's trying to get off the ground and get going ,
getting to know you , approaching you , getting connected with you , is gonna be highly valuable for them and I appreciate you doing that . For what , for everybody around here , really do well .
Thank you . That means a lot and I appreciate it as well . I mean , it's it's stuff where you want to pay it forward . You want to help others . Others had helped same thing who I had . Others helped you earlier on . You to been much further along and I look at it Like , like , how do you continue to play this thing forward and get people connected ?
There's a lot of cool things happening right right in this community and it's just a matter of really one person being introduced to somebody else . That's gonna solve a lot of these challenges .
And I would say that anybody that's listening it's not in this community . You have a community like it's really about community . It really is , I mean it . I think one of the cool things about ours is that Sam Walton really initiated .
Who was an entrepreneur ? Right , you look at water and go this is a massive company , but he had an idea . Yep , and that's where it came from . Same thing with Tyson , same thing with JB Hunt , same with Arkbest all these companies started out of an idea from an entrepreneur , and people don't think that way about those companies they're they're huge .
Yeah , started with an idea and their founders were connected and they were civic leaders around here and they were charitable giveers , very focused , very community . I mean all of them , all of them , everyone else .
And so if you're , if you're a founder and entrepreneur and you are really going to try to become rich , you're really putting yourself in a vulnerable position to be disappointed .
Yes , but if you're coming as a founder and you're like I want to improve the market and help other people and provide a service or product that amplifies the economy and helps all these people around and I will receive the value back , then you're on the right track and people will flock to you .
In the latter of what you just said and the front one , people will see through you Hell yeah and not be interested in working with you .
I've seen it happen so many times .
Yes , example of example it's painful to watch and , by the way , it may be the best idea in the world , and it doesn't get traction for exactly that reason . People don't wanna be here to see a check . They wanna be here for the big ecosystem , and so some good ideas fail . Another average idea succeed just because of the way that they go about doing it .
So true . Anything else you wanna say about Gents Place , plug Play or any last advice to the entrepreneurs founders out there .
Be courageous . If you have an idea , talk to somebody about it . Don't worry about somebody stealing your idea . I mean , if you want people to sign had . Somebody approached me and asked me to sign an NDA before I had any further conversations and I was happy to do so and I was able to point him in the right direction and move .
But if you're at a job today that you don't love and you're super entrepreneurial , I would also recommend doing a personality study and understanding what motivates you .
It clicked for me when I joined Plug Play how important variety is in my work life and I was realizing I didn't love the same line review every year with different items , like I just I realized that variety inspires me and not doing the same thing every day , and that's proved to me how entrepreneurial I am .
So if you're somebody that's like that and likes a variety and you have an idea , you'll be kicking yourself 10 years down the road . I wish I had talk to somebody . Sit down with Eric , sit down with me , schedule time and have those conversations .
They may go nowhere , but it may be the greatest thing that you've ever done in your life because you had the opportunity to talk to somebody about what you're trying to do .
I want to have you back . I want to have you back and let's get down to that a little bit , because , at the end of the day , entrepreneurism is , I would say , majority emotional .
And it's scary . It's yeah , it's scary Like do I leave my job where I got a paycheck coming in every two weeks ? It's safe , it's comfortable . I don't love it . It puts food on the table . But if I left my job and went to do this , it may be amazing , but I may not be able to afford my rent .
I made it before my mortgage payments , but I think it's the greatest thing ever and I love it . So how do you find that ? How risk averse are you ? And how do you then figure out what's right for you ? Do you take a partner Right ? Do you bring in investors ? This is the stuff that's really important , but don't sit on an idea .
If you have a really good one , figure out what to do with it .
All right , we're gonna do another episode , maybe a few more , to kind of get into that , because I'm very passionate about that conversation , because that's I mean , I was not . I would not put myself as a super , super smart person , but I did have a tremendous amount of passion , still do .
I mean , there's something that drives and I know there's just so much to uncover there as to why . And I think that I'm with the guys actually talking to somebody last night that has always had ideas , but it didn't even self-proclaim that he is not an entrepreneur and I'm like you don't really know that , bro .
Yeah , well , to your point . The last thing for me . I mean when you surround yourself with the right people . We've talked about it a few times my plug-and-play team here .
There's five of us and I can call us the fab four and Josh right , and I've surrounded myself with the right people that are rounding out the things that I'm not very good at and the accumulation of the five of us is a really good team .
Josh has his role , but the other guys and gals are doing a tremendous amount of work and we're getting our brand out there in the community . But again , it's the group and putting yourself , understanding your vulnerabilities and where you're not good at , and bringing the right people to support you and take care of your blind spots . People want to help you .
They do All right , Josh , so I'm gonna make any last pitch for you .
Just thank you for having me here . The podcast studio is gorgeous and amazing . Thanks , man .
¶ Entrepreneurial Podcasting in Northwest Arkansas
If you're an entrepreneur and want to do some podcasting , this is the place to be in Northwest Arkansas . I'm so proud of you and what you've done here , and this is just the beginning . This is a great , great spot and I'm real excited to see where you take it .
Yeah , man , it is exciting . I love the team too . Man , the team's geeked out . That's one of the most rewarding things .
But also I know all of them . They also round out your right , like the stuff that you're not great at , they're fantastic at , which is why it's a great team . Hell yeah , that's one thing out there Even . Parker Even or shoot .
Definitely even Parker , hey . So our last pitch here for big talk about small business hey , listen , folks , get online , go to our site , sign up for our newsletter , reach out , say hi , get connected , pitch the idea of coming on the show .
We love that stuff and don't forget to like , subscribe all that fun stuff , because we need money , like everyone else needs money . Everybody needs money . Everybody needs some money . But we do appreciate you all listening . I'm really stoked out about our listeners here in this podcast . I think it's gonna be really helpful . Josh , we're gonna have you back , man .
Always a pleasure . Good combo , bro . Thanks for everything you do . Again , appreciate you . Thank you , eric , you got it , man .