I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal partnership with The Prospect Wizard. And when I say wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously, you have a website. This allows you to convert Immediately goes to you, your sales team, or anyone else in the club instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact the lead within 10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up 9 times that of the average. We got the Atlanta Clubs on it, Vida Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside, City Fitness Philly,
College Park. Become one of the next halo companies to deploy the wizard. It's easy to use. Go to the prospectwizard.com. Get a free 30 day trial. Talk to my boy, Dave Gallon. He will get you all set up and let the leads flow based on the wizard. Go get them. This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks NYC. I have the pleasure of bringing a friend of mine from the nineties. Investment banking back at DLJ, Donaldson Lufkin and Genrette.
Patrick Sandone, good to see you again. Now moving his financial acumen into the first responder and abroad into other areas of public service and making those people amazing. Patrick, good to see you again in person, somewhat live. Good to see you, Pete. It's been it's been a while. It's been a long time. It has. Those were those were good days back at, back at DLJ. There was a lot of business to go around, and we were able to to learn a lot, of the foundations of
business. So give people your background, you know, from from college, till now and, you know, the the, truncated version, and then we'll talk about, the guide app. Yeah. Sure. I, so I went to, Penn undergrad. I actually transferred into Penn, and there was about 200 kids, who transferred in. One of them was Elon Musk. So, got to know him a little bit.
Was gonna be a doctor, got into medical school, and then had a panic attack, decided that wasn't what I wanted to do, and, switched gears, started taking some classes at Wharton, and got a job at DLJ. Wow. Yep. And, worked there for 3 years, with you and then, moved on to do some private equity venture capital up in Boston. Got an MBA in New York at Columbia. And, I think at that point, I really knew I wanted to
own and run a business. So, initially, my family had a business in the automotive industry, took that over, for a short period of time, decided that wasn't what I wanted to do. But out of that came my first real startup, which was called Net Driven, and I built a software as a service platform for the automotive aftermarket. Back then, this was 2,008, 2009. Most companies
didn't really have websites. A lot of companies didn't have really well executed Internet marketing, and we created a service around that, and we became the leader in the world in that niche. Sold that company in 2015, and it really left me
drained. I was burned out. I was not in a good place, and I decided to take some time off and figure out how do I really decide what is it that's going to bring me alive, what am I passionate about, and how do I rehabilitate myself from really, you know, digging myself into a hole and started to take a lot of different courses
and retreats and things like that around personal development. And not an area I knew a lot about prior to that, but through that process, I really saw the value in it all and what what it, what it holds in terms of helping people live really meaningful, happy lives. And I used all that knowledge and all the training I received over the 5 years that I really, dove into that world to bring that type of work to a bigger audience and and built a company, that I'm running now
called Guide. And we are focused on helping first responders, military, veterans, and people in other high stress professions really build resilience, wellness, and live lives that they love. And, and the the company guide provides an app that
is completely anonymous. So Mhmm. The beauty of that is if you're in some of these professions that, may have a real macho culture around them, you may not wanna tell other people that you're diving into this world, that you're meditating, you're taking wellness courses, that you're, you know, getting in touch with how you feel about things. And this is
completely anonymous. And for most people that have access to the app, it it may be the only anonymous way that they can jump into this, and it's a safe haven where you can get help, get get support, learn, and without anyone else knowing about it. And Yap, has 3 main features that drive, performance. 1 are microlearning courses. So instead of having to take a seminar or sit in a classroom for even an hour, you can learn in bite sized
bits that are 1 to 2 minutes long and they're interactive. There is a community and it's asynchronous communication and that is moderated by our team. You can get in there, you can talk to people, whether it's your peers or one of our moderators, and then we also have practices. So you can schedule out practices, whether it be meditation, journaling, workouts, feeling trackers, and be be able to do that on a regular, basis. And one of the big, theories behind it all is that wellness, mental
and emotional wellness is just like physical wellness. So we all know if you're working out once a year, once a month, you're probably not gonna get, you're probably not gonna see a lot of benefits. But if you're doing something a couple times a week or every day, you know, over time, you're gonna really build, build strength, build flexibility, build endurance, and it's the same thing with mental and
emotional wellness. So we create that possibility for people. So, you know, I started up a software app back in 2000 to 2003. I don't think there were apps then. It was just a website, by the way. You know, as you take a look at what you wanted to do in the market, did you research other apps and said, hey. Like, there's something out there, but it's not set up properly, whether from a user interface, whether it's from a communication standpoint, whether it's from, you know, scalability?
How important was it to you to target high stress people and and to find out if there's, you know, a market for that and they and these companies and these organizations had budgets available from a revenue standpoint? Talk about how you decided, hey. I'm doing this and kinda regardless of what research I find, I'm doing it, or, hey. I'm gonna look at this methodically and decide if there's, like, an opportunity. Yeah. You know what? So it it's a a little bit of a hybrid with my former
business net driven. I put together a 30 page business plan and mapped everything out, and there was a very detailed financial model, which we actually came within 10% of our 5 year projection for that business. So it was really well thought out. This business, I did take some of that approach. I did look at what other people are doing, seeing whether it worked or not, and, trying to think about, you know, could this make money eventually, and and could this
really scale? But, I really trusted my gut, a lot and saw that this is something that I was passionate about. I wanted to help other people like me who maybe were a little bit afraid to dip their toe in the water in this world and make this more accessible to people. And so it was a little bit of a hybrid. I I did enough research to make sure I wasn't completely off base, but then really trusted my gut and just, jumped
in. Gotcha. And then what kind of team did you build, or what kind of, you know, you know, laying out kind of like the whether it was the, you know, the the the the user interface or, you know, PowerPoint. You know, tell us how you went about this, and did you go about this in order to bring in other investors or solicit people? Or you're like, hey. This is like the Pat Cheadon show. We're gonna do it my way, and then I'll I'll figure out what kind of materials
we wanna put together later. You you know what? So I I did build a couple prototype apps early on. I'll be honest. I I had a lot of skepticism around this business. It was it was, so far afield from anything I had done before, and I took my time. It was a part time project. We built some, prototype apps and did testing with those. And and I was really convinced every one of these prototypes just weren't gonna work. And, surprisingly, over and over again, we were getting great feedback
and things are working. And then in 2022, started to raise outside money. And a big part of the story was just telling my own story about what I went through and how these techniques really helped me. And, what I was surprised by is that when I got vulnerable and shared my story, probably 9 out of 10 of the investors I was talking to, like, I went through something like that too. So I was really
really surprised by that. We actually have 50 different investors, some folks that are former DLJers, and, a whole host of other other people, who really are committed and passionate about, about what we're doing. This is Pete Moore. I wanna let you in on a little secret. There's this company called Promotion Vault, and what they do is they give out rewards from retailers that allow you to incentivize your members without having to do zero down and 1 month
free or giving away shakes or giving away t shirts. What you wanna do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value, and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the deal. There's something called rewards vault. The rewards vault is going to allow a member to set up their own profile.
They are going to answer questions. You are gonna get those answers. You're gonna be able to target those members, and you're gonna reward them inside your club, inside your spa, and outside of the club, and outside of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay their monthly dues, and to be rewarded properly for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on rewards. You shouldn't be. Promotion Vault's your answer. Trust me. This is real.
So a lot of people build an app. They get people on it, and, you know, they see what the usage is, you know, and and it it's not as robust or, you know, compelling. So when you take a look at this group of people that you've started with on the first responder side, you know, whether it's the police departments, fire departments, We'll talk about the client base. What kind of usage are you seeing, and and what's this importance of the anonymity?
So, what I'll answer the first question, and then we can come back to the second one. When I when in terms of usage, we've been really surprised. So if we look at customers we've had on the platform for 6 months or more, about 50% of the people who are in the departments have downloaded the app, which blows my mind. And then when we look at, repeat monthly visitors, we're seeing, like, somewhere between 5, 10, 15% of people are coming back over and over again and, and using the
app. And, you know, we're we're actually in the process right now of completing our second clinical trial with the University of Pennsylvania's Behavioral Health Department, where we're going to have a more robust view of repeat visitors and utilization, as well as what's the impact on people's mental and emotional wellness. Our previous clinical trial, we we saw, it it was smaller. We we saw about 16 people use it, several times a week over the course of a month. And we actually, those
folks were using it very consistently. And, we actually saw a nearly 30% decrease in anxiety, 15% increase in overall wellness, and a 15% increase in motivation as as well as other benefits. So, not only is utilization there and engagements there, but the benefits are there. Mhmm. And how much of that are you doing on-site
when you onboard? How How much are you doing that remotely? Is there, like, you know, a a team in the background that's, like, you know, whether a a live coach or an AI coach or tell us about how the guide works. Yeah. So, when when we think about how the app works and and where the benefits come from, a big part of it is the community inside the app. So everybody's
anonymous. They can identify, you know, some general information about themselves, like a, you know, I'm a marine veteran or I'm a, you know, active, member of the US army or I'm a I'm a police officer, maybe an age range, and they can pick an icon, but there's no place to put any identifying information. And some of the conversations that people are having in the app are really cool. And, it's something that I like to call people are seeing new possibilities for their
life. You know, we we see people take an assessment and then come back and say, you know what? I really see that the way that I'm approaching my marriage doesn't work. And I'm committed to making some changes, in terms of how I how I talk to my wife, how I, talk to my kids. So we're we're that's that's really what I love is that somebody sees something they're doing and they make a commitment to do something
different. And, we see a lot of that. And and that type of change, is really contagious because then they're sharing that in the app, other people see it, and then they're they're trying new things on too. Gotcha. And and what are some of the moments or, like, you know, you got some feedback. You're like, wow. You know, I've I never thought that this would that this story would would come about or this you know, somebody would come up with something that I never thought I was, you know, solving.
Yeah. I I think that the the big is when we got our first, clinical trial completed and we got the results, I was really shocked. I didn't know if we were actually having, an actual measurable impact on people's wellness. So to see those results, see that, like, on average, everyone that was using the app saw their anxiety go down by the I think it was 29%, was just shocking to me. And that was just after a month. Or to see that people's motivation went up or people's wellness, you know, overall
wellness went up. Those things I was really surprised by. I just didn't think we would have that profound of an impact in that short of a time. And, and that and that really encouraged us to kind of continue going forward and and then team up with Penn to do even a bigger study. Mhmm. So when you talk about doing something with Penn, you know, like, yeah, like, I went to Emory. I went to visit Harvard Business School. You know, I probably can't just
walk up to Penn and be like, hey. You wanna do a clinical trial with me? How did that work from being an alum or, like, connections? Just talk to people here because there's a number of companies that should be having clinical trials to support their apps or their business, and they just don't do it because they don't think it's, like, the most important thing or one of the most important things. They also don't. Like, that's an intimidating place to try and venture
into if you don't know anything about. Yeah. You know you know what? So, we actually hired a person to do a survey of who may want to, so this this this gentleman was a PhD out of Australia who's, you know, in in the wellness world, and he's got a lot of, cool ideas and and research that he does. And, he loved what we were doing, And, we partnered with him to find, a university that was really excited about what we were doing. So he identified 3 different, institutions that we had
conversations with. And, Penn was just a great fit, I think, for a lot of different reasons. It's obviously close to where we are. I am an alum and, they do a lot of work with, the VA already. So it just it it kind of I think what I find more and more is, you take one step forward and even if it feels risky and you're not quite sure if there's gonna be solid ground on the other side and and everything tends to
work out. I've been leaning in more to trusting my gut and and just moving forward, and and, and things just keep working. Yeah. Would have been, you know, the the average kinda like sales cycle or, you know, I hate to call it a sales cycle because you're basically, like, installing, you know, a system that reduces stress to that magnitude. I mean, it's not really am I selling you something, or am I, like, you know, almost, like, gifting this to you as
an organization? No matter what you pay me, you're gonna underpay me. Right? I'm not selling you. I'm I'm, like, helping you, like, install, you know, this this trophy of, like, the the I'll use your wellness term for a second. Like, the mental wellness or the halo wellness of, like, your entire, you know, you know, force, if you will. Yeah. So so I'm not sure. Was there a question in there? I thought there was. I'm not sure. I thought there is. I think there is. What what so what what
is the question? I mean, the question is, like, you know, how long does it take to, like, convince someone, like, hey. This is the results. It's a clinical study. This is how it's working for these, you know, fire departments, first responders. Like, how long does it take me to convince you to now onboard with me? Yeah. You you know what? It it it's it's actually interesting. Enrolling people in this is pretty easy. I think, there's a lot
of awareness that this is something that's needed. Where we get stuck sometimes is helping the customer find the funds because these aren't private businesses. These are government entities, and the budgets are planned well in advance, and and there's usually not enough money to go around. So trying to find the budget for it tends to be where our challenge lies, but we're figuring it out. We we onboarded the, the 4th largest police department in the country, the
Philly PD, you know, not that long ago. We just signed up the 7th largest police department in the country. We've got lots of other folks that, are gonna be coming on board in the next couple months. So we're we're figuring it out, but it it's not a straight line. And and we we are getting creative trying to find ways to get things funded. And, but there's
grants out there. There are some programs that we're aware of where, you know, using, some aspects of Medicare and Medicaid, you can get things, done. So we're we're figuring it out, but that is our biggest hurdle. Like, you know, while we we've got, I think currently about 13,000, people, using the app, mostly first responders, there's still a lot of of room for us to figure that piece out. But we're getting we're getting there. This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.
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workouts. Higher dose, check it out. There's a wholesale code, and we look forward to helping you augment your products and services to meet the demands of your members. And, hey, let's get people happy, healthy, and sweaty, and the recovery should be just as good as the workout. So you referenced before you've got some investors, you know, in this deal. Obviously, what you're doing right now is not necessarily a 100%, hey. What's my return on investment? I
would suspect. Like, people understand what you're doing. You know, this is somewhat of a, hey. Can we do good things? But maybe it's like would be deemed like impact investing. Let's say it's like a like a catch phrase. How do you think We we are, but we we are profitable. We're gonna make money this year, and I think this can be, and will be a very profitable business. So we are, not asking for donations. We we we
do intend to do right by our investors. And and so far, we're ahead of our ahead of schedule in terms of our promises, in terms of revenue and and things like that. But it it's it is kind of a win win. And I think what you know, one of the things I do struggle with is that this is more than just a business. Right? So this is Exactly. That's why that was my point of the question. Yeah. Like, leading you. It it's it's the the happy marriage
between doing well and doing good. Right. And I think that's a new model for business that, you know, we we look at, oh, this is a charity and charities are doing good in the world. And this is a business and businesses are, you know, neutral, contribution to the world but profitable. I think it can be both. I think we're gonna see more and more businesses that are are actually making the world a better place and making,
money doing it. Got it. And and and from a standpoint of other competitors that that are trying to do this, do you think that they have the same without naming names, when someone's like, hey. I'm considering you you're the the guide or something else. Like, what what's like the what's like the the special sauce? What's like the takeaway for you that's like, hey. I I know there's other softwares in the market. I know there's other, you know, ways to onboard your your your
athletes, if you will. But here's why it should be the guide. So I I think a a a few things that are really different about us is, as far as we know, you know, we are the only app, that has any scientific basis that it works. Our engagement rates are, from what we can tell, probably 10 times more than our, than our peers. And there's a lot of reasons for that. And the features that we offer are really unique. And the fact that we're completely anonymous
is also a big selling point. You know, we we went so far as to team up with Okta, which, if you're not aware, is the login security software that Google uses, Amazon, Salesforce. So we've really thought through what does the anonymity look like and how to lock it down. And then we're really focused on getting results. We wanna make sure that if somebody's using this, that they're seeing real tangible benefits.
Great. So my last question as we close out here, and then we'll obviously have all your information up on our site to try and get more groups on board. Obviously, I told you we you know, I'm an honorary battalion chief for the FDNY. So So love to see this in the, in New York area. You know, when you think back to how you used to wake up and work, you know, 18 hours a day being, you know, a solid investment banker, if you could think about, like, how that felt, I don't even remember, to be
honest with you. Like, I guess I was super motivated, and I was excited versus waking up today knowing what you're doing, that you're building a business that's affecting 100 of thousands of people. How do you feel? Yeah. It's a good question. So, you know you know what? I, and and I don't know if I was a solid investment banker, by the way, but, I, I I definitely, feel like I'm doing the right thing. Like, I'm not I don't think I ever question when I get up that, what I'm doing. And it just,
what I'm doing. And it just it it is more of a flow experience. And I think when you find something that truly aligns with what you care about and you're you find that balance of doing doing well and doing good, I think a lot of the doubt disappears, and it it feels a little bit more effortless. And, it kinda feels like it is woven into the rest of my life in a way that just seems seems to work, and, I'm happy. I am. That's awesome. Well, for feel free to use the halo term as much as you want,
either in addition to wellness or as a substitute. Look forward to seeing you in person. So when you get back to the city, let us know. And it'll be amazing if we could, do some meetings together with the, you know, public service organizations in New York because that's where we're we're based, and we want to, you know, make sure we bring the best solutions to them. So that's also gonna be the guide. So great to see you. Proud of what you're doing, and, go halo, brother. Yeah. Go halo. Awesome.