Super Bowl LVII Radio Row: Brandon Marshall and Andrew Hawkins/Troy Jones

super Bowl fifty seven. Everybody's excited. You can really tell the atmosphere starting to heat up and people starting to leave Radio Row. That means against time for starting it down a little bit. So what's up man? Um? Well, first of all, before I tell you what's up, um, I want to thank all of our listeners out there for tuning in as always, Make sure you continue to hit clear and like, give us a follow, a review,

tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend. UH. Anywhere you get your podcast, whether it's Apple Podcast, I Heart Radio, you can listen to us anywhere and tell somebody to subscribe. Thank you appreciate as always, the episodes are gonna keep coming in. We're gonna keep dialing it up the rest of the week. We've got great guests, Brand Marshall, Andrew Hawkins, UH, Troy Jones, we talked to them. Make sure y'all listen to the pod. UH. Great conversations

with these Uh. These men are doing uh post career, their transition and their second act really got some great stuff. So you you guys, make sure you guys tune in. You know what, this is something off the cup, But this is what I've been noticing. I've been here for two days now, and I'm all about you know what is my own personal notes and what I've seen and acknowledged from my first experience on radio row. For me,

it's all about the entourage. And you know what that is the entourage of who's coming with the superstars and who's doing the radio real clicks. You freaked out or not? I shouldn't say freaked out? What what entourage was the biggest for you? Yeah, because it's all about numbers. For me, I don't care if you're holding the phone. It's all right. The biggest entourage. Let me just answer the question. The biggest entourage from me it's between Dion Sanders. He was deep.

Dion was deep custom deep. The next one Shannon sharp deep. I mean, and I get it. Shannon's the man, He's doing great thing. How many people deep would Shannon was probably seven or eight deep, Keon was probably eight to nine. Stephen A. Smith probably had twelve. Look at look at pretty he's walking by right now to the right. He's got a little entourage, I mean one to three full five, No, it's just three people everything. I'm telling you. Look, it's amazing.

The the entourage you pick up when you win some games and you get her elbow and the you can't throw the ball no more. It's just crazy. But everybody wants a piece of Now it's good. Do it's good. The last person Joe Montana. Joe Montana came in here deep too the other day. Very exciting. I mean, I'm biggest Joe Montana fan that you probably could be. And uh, it was just all out of respect. I'm just admiring everybody's entourage. That's what has been big for me. Also, Peanut,

you tell me the one thing that's bothered you. I hope you say the right answer here. Can you talk about just everybody following you around, walking around with cameras. Now, I don't I don't like it. I don't like people walking in front of me trying to film me, uh and then putting it on social media, Like I think that's I think that's weird. I'm not I'm not a fan of that. That's probably the one thing that bothered me. Like, I think we're so in tune with social media and

you gotta film every little thing. It seems it seems fake at times. Rather just pick up my phone, I filmed something like it. Just a lot of the guys that what you see, what we've what I've noticed, guys were just walking and then they got a guy with a camera in front of them and they're just walking back or filming themselves. Like it just seems a little it just seems a little weird. That's just me. You

did the Entourage. Mine was like the camera walking like it just didn't really I wasn't really doing it for me. I wasn't feeling that they didn't get it. I didn't get it either. I don't understand. And everybody's got one now, so that's the other thing except us too, maybe because we're old and we just like, I don't care, I get it. I yeah, I'll just continue to do the zoom and we can do it live like this every

so often. But the day I record myself walking backwards, I have someone recording me walk backwards, like just to do it in some cool music like come slap me content creators. Man. I guess so we we mentioned it earlier, pinut did. We had a great guest on earlier, Brandon Marshall. Let's take a listening unto his interview and we're back.

We gotta we gotta real treat right now. Um, I want to welcome to the show one of my former teammates, former All Pro receiver and now business media mogul, Brandon Marshall. We're trying to be like you, boss, you know, with the podcast and everything. How you you you got going on. You're like, y'all y'all blew up, y'all, blew all the way up. We'll be big. Well, I think it's more so timing right, like we saw podcast blowing up in

the NBA unfiltered and for us in the pandemic. You know, I just had this idea of like, look I just invested fifty and equipment. I had a social media team talking about telling the story of House of Athlete, my wellness company that I'm passionate about is to me as my life's work, and so we're looking at all these resources that we had, was like, let's just try to sell a show so everybody is home and you know the stories that we were telling, and it was just

the stuff that we talked about all the time. So whether it was me Oho and Reggie Wayne, or if it was just US three and bran U Lacker or Penut I mean, uh Julius Peppers, it was always gonna be the same vibe. Like we shared this brotherhood, this fraternity, and it's like, man, it's so special and just putting cameras, lights up, cameras, microphones, that's all it is, Like we're capturing that. You know, That's what this whole space is about.

You know. That's one great thing about when we practiced all the time too, Like no day was ever really the same. I know we had the same schedule, but you never know what you're gonna get when you're dealing with all these great guys and the vibes that you would have, like you're talking about and so I want you to tell me some of the good, Like give me two or three great stories about ump Nut at practice, because I've heard about the rivalry. It is a rivalry

and it was definitely some heated battles were my hatred. Yes, So going in to the Chicago Bears, I knew obviously knew who Peanut was. Peanut Punch was legendary um, but I didn't know how he how elite he was. Right, I practiced against cham Bailey Um after I left Chicago, an opportunity to practice against the roll Reeves and so, like I remember running a jerk route and anybody else in the world, like I would get open because you get it's a three way go and he would just

sit on that and he would be right there. I'm like, yo, how and he's like, well, I'm forcing you to go this way, you know. So the strategy and his thought process of every single play, every single details, like this dudes a lead. And it wasn't just the physical right like he's a specimen tall, the Peanut Punch, but literally every single move that you would make he had an answer for or he would force you to do something.

So going into Chicago, I had to put my cleats every single day because I wanted to beat his ass. Can I curse on this podcast? Like that's what I wanted. And I came in very fiery, and I went and say, like they taught me how to, they showed me what the team is, and I still made mistakes, but like I wasn't like always the best teammate, you know, so like sometimes I would take it too personal and he's not backing down right, so we'll be out there literally

like you gotta pull us apart whatever. It was legendary practices. Yeah, we were stubborn two minute drills because I love you would give us you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, we we'd get like some crazy offenses up you gotta score touchdown or whatever. In situations, I mean, if he'd catch the ball or I knock it out and it was like no no, if he called us like no no, then

you can't help. But taking persons like I know, I just his feet was out of bounder, you know, ford Tay would do something and it would they're trying to keep the drill going so they can get some stuff players like you don't like you like, no, he was holding this, that's passing affairs coached Peanut Cane and it's like, no, you know, moving back and you you can't help, but your emotions get in there, you know what I'm saying. Like it's like I want to win him. I want

to beat his ass too. Like you can't come on down, coach, you can as a Chicago Bear, practicing against pe Nut was he only got the ball out once? Like that was my number one goal going into practice, Like, I know I'm gonna kept some balls as soon as I get up filed his his butt is not getting this ball out. He got it out once. That was one of the most devastated days ever. All right, tell me about this. What do you think about the Bears all time rankings? Do you guys know this? That's where you

guys are at. Both you guys are on the list the top one hundred Bears of all time. Yeah, I think b Marshall you are eighty one. Yeah, Peanut you are thirty one of all time. What's your opinions on that? How does that make you feel? Well? First, I think Peanuts should be probably top twenty. And I know there's some legendary Bears that That's what I loved about the organization.

Being on that team is that when you walked in, you walked into like it's almost like royalty, right, Like you're playing with Hall of Famers and goats and you're seeing them in the rafters. Uh. And I still believe he's top twenty. I feel like if I, if I play, uh, if I if I stayed longer with Chicago, I would definitely be up there, um, because I had some really good years there, but I didn't stay long enough. I do think eighty one is kind of disrespectful. Can I

get like seventy? You know what I mean? Like I appreciate that out, but I was the piggyback. Yeah. I think if you would have stayed there longer, if you would have had it weren't three Yeah, I was there three years. Yeah. I think if you would have had a longer career in Chicago, you would easily top thirty. Yeah. Yeah, for sure, because that's what I'm saying. You could you

could have. Yeah. And you know another great thing is, so I don't know if you remember this, so b Marsh, I played you guys with that Saints in Denver when you were in Denver. I remember early in your career, I thought you were gonna break every record in receiving, like you guys were on fire early in your career, and then you ended up bouncing around a little bit. Like what was your experience like from from that transition,

like you leave in Denver to Chicago. Do you think that takes down your career experience at all being going three or four different teams from a football standpoint, yes, right, Like you know, again, remember my first five years of my career four five years, and my career was tumultuous, right, Like I was getting in a lot of trouble, you know. You know, that's where the mental health stuff came in, you know, trying to learn myself, figure out why I thought the way I thought, why I did the things

that I did. So it was tough, so I understand why. Like the transition from Denver to Miami, my second year in Miami, I actually was a year I transformed and I got it right. And then going to Chicago, I was a better teammate, you know, but I still was rough around the edges. Um. So from a football standpoint, you look at it and be like, dang man, dude, bounce around a little bit because of you know, maybe how he approached things at times, but from a human experience,

it was phenomenal. I played in the biggest cities, man, and you know, I met so many great people like I played with Jason Taylor, I played with Peanut, I pay with Julius Peppers. I played with Matt Forte. I played with you know, Champ Bailey. I played with Darrelle Reevers, New York, Chicago, Miami. Even my last cup of tea was Seattle in the Saints, so I was able to even see Drew Brees sit there rock bro. I saw

Drew Brees do this after Fast Friday, everybody's gone. He goes into the weight room because he's waiting for everybody to clear out of the indoor after we just did a walk through. Media's in there. He's standing there in front of the in front of the mirror. I'm on the StairMaster, and he rocks like this for thirty minutes, going side to side. I go up to the strength of conditioning coach and said, what does he because I

just got there. I said what is he doing? He said, He's going through every single play in this hid in every situation, and he does this every Friday, every Friday. I saw him doing. I was in there with every Friday. Every Friday he threw out there. He would go through like in the end zone. Sometimes that's like going through plays in his mind that they were gonna held on the call. She on Sunday, and he went through the whole call. Sheot if I would have played with Drew,

if Drew could have been a Chicago I don't. I don't want superside numerous super Bowls, numerous with our defense numerous. That's why I was hot though, uh the year, and I feel like the biggest mistakes of Chicago Bears made was letting go love you and then also didn't go Brian Orlacker like oh the Monster of the Midway talking about office nose defense. Right. All we need to do is have some continuity and what we were trying to do on our run in the past game we had myself,

Matt Forte, we had Devin Hester. I don't know what the hell Jake Cutler was doing, but like us, Devin Hester, you understand like they were scoring a touchdown her to a game when I first got there. You're talking about legendary and it wasn't just like you had the stars, but they played on the string. I remember coming out, man we had this little route in the in the slot where I could do anything I wanted to do,

and I was killing him. I was killing him about two weeks and then all of a sudden, it just they locked it up and they start talking. Briggs be talking about what they would come bro. I wish we had more time to dive into it. And it was like Chicago was so awesome. You go to the silent here and sitting there, five of them, six of them, like, Yo, Pepsi's up, Pepsi's up. What are you doing well this time when we say pepsi, PEPs we're gonna give him

cover three. But then if I say Pepsi's down and I say pepsi, pepsi, then it's something different, something different. They played the game like they paid Manning, but all of them want the same. Yeah. Brown was real good at like switching up the calls and making us do certain you know, this week we're gonna use this. Okay, this week this is the dummy call, but we're still gonna keep you know, making them think we're cover to cover through you know whatever. Blitz. Yeah, it was. It

was it was pretty dope. And in that matter, he's he's got a football mind. It's yeah, it was. It was fun to play with. He's like a field general. Him and Mike Brown, like the way they the way their minds would think it was. I wish you could have played. You would Oh my god, you would have thrived. You would have thrived. Yeah, I would have been I would have been cold. Um, I'm not used to that. That weather up there. You gotta be honest with you.

It was brutal. It's gotta be. But we didn't wear sleeves that as cold as it was, you didn't even wear sleeves. It's just it was some mentality, right. It was tough. We played in uh below like thirteen below zero. Grown men played against the Dallas Cowboys. I knew we were gonna win because we were the only ones warming up and they didn't even come out the tunnel. DEAs Brian peaked his head, I went right back and say, we got this day, all right, So here we go.

We gotta get to a couple of real questions here. All right, you're the shows and stuff that you've been doing, your podcasts, all these other things. How do you think that that has helped you in your transition post football career, because I was asked about your your your mental episodes and really being rough around the edges earlier career, like how you have you transformed and held up together? Well, I gave you a hug earlier. I'm like, bro, you

are still well put together, that's right. Yeah, I'm still like ten over, I need to drop. I want to get leaner. But um, in two thousand and fortunates playing for Chicago Bears, I spent my whole offseason at Harvard studying transition, and what came out of it was content and commerce, and I like, I opened up my facility. I opened up with some facility. That opened up my office. I started doing inside the NFL, so on that would fly, I would fly there. So I started that transition back then.

So everything I'm doing now literally comes from that case study from two thousand and fourteen. And then also uh ruffles some feathers to like Matt Fort J. Cutler, a couple of guys on the team. They would look at me like, why are you doing this now? And I always felt like I get it, you know, and it was disruptive, But I'm like man, if I don't do it now, I'm never gonna have an opportunity like this.

Like I'm trying to build it so that transition is easier. Um, but a lot of guys didn't respected and then when the new regime came in that first meeting, it's like, yo, we don't want you doing none of that. And I remember walking out the office as I called my my agents, like, hey, man, get me traded, because like I truly believe that, you know, we could do more than just play ball. Like I was still putting up yards fourteen touchdowns. I got to the Jets and I was still doing it and I

had my best year ever. So yeah, it's like they're trying to put you in a box, and you know you you're you're so much more than I'm more than

just football. We we have might go like on a little bit earlier, and you know, we're talking about podcasts and like specifically your podcast, one of your podcasts and all the guests that you have on there, like obviously a lot of form of athletes football, basketball, and I think what I love most is y'all don't really just talk about what that person player uh did on the court on the field, it's just about like life. And then you hear these stories about what they do, what

they accomplished outside of their sport. You know what I'm saying, It's like, damn, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't know that. Like I didn't know that person accomplished this, that they were this smarter, they had a degree in this, or they had to figure this out, or they have this business. Like I think, I think that's dope. And I applaud you for having the timing and everything else that you're doing with your house of athlete Like, I think it's dope. Man.

I love what you're doing. Thank you, Thank you a lot of hard work. And you know it's it's tough. Now. I invested ten million into it, pretty much all my football money. I'm in there. It's like it's yeah, boom or bus. But they said that's the best way to do an entrepreneur. You shouldn't invest with people unless they're all in, if they got other jobs and some other things like be careful on that. But when somebody goes all in, they burned the boats. There is no turning back.

And so for you to be all in, I think it's a beautiful thing. And that's what allows you to get to where you are right now because there is no turning back. You're all in. And so I kind of have a hitch because I can go like the E, S, P and or FS want to make some money if I had to, you seek, don't you see? Yeah? You're good? All right? All right, So let's talk about this partnership that you you've done with Tom Brady TV twelve. I want to I want to buy some stuff, so let

me know that is it all? Is it all? Just the last picture? I think this is yeah right. I felt like, I mean, man, he could do that. No, no, my part, don't do that picture. I'm just telling you. He was leo like they no definition? Sorry good you look good like a model? Yeah no? So um pills T shirt? So what house of athlete is? It's it's our experience. You played what twelve? But he only played yeah right, I know you always like damn yeah back in the day you had them great, Like who's that

back there? I had to get it. It's all respected, literally, that kind of that's why I stood out. That's right. It's like literally like that's the guy with the ground. But I interrupt to keep going bad. Know how many

years you play? You played thirteen? I played thirteen. So our experience of walking in the Bears facility or the Saints facility, that's House of Athlete, the fundamentals, right, like every single day, this is what we lean into our routine, how we train, how we feel, eat, drink, how we recover our mental fitness right from performance to impairment. And then also try community. Right, So those five things were modifying and giving to the general population. We've always had

access to the best gurus out there. So TV twelve that's pliability, that's that's alex right. So now I'm being able to have TV twelve inside of House of Athlete. Everywhere we go, there a guitar there in Vegas, We're gonna go to London, in Paris, you know, l A, Miami. So being able to take these things that help us perform at a high level every single day, year in the year out and give that to everybody, that's what

it is. And you know, we launched h O A plus because obviously breaking mortar it's hard and we won't be everywhere. So being able to almost democratize you know, health and wellness for everybody, Like where the healthiest people on the planet. Right, So that's what House of Athlete and h O A Plus is and our app store. Um, just taking the things that we do every single day and giving it to everybody. Well, man, I know we gotta wrap you a busy guy here a radio role

super Bowl. Thank you so much and let me do I received what you said about my work as I received, I think very much. I really do. Really really you need to learn how to take compliments better that I do know. I mean, I mean, you're a Hall of Famer. You're one of the best to ever do it. I hate it practice against you. There as times I didn't like you, you know, but when you look back, it's like, man, this dude made me better. And you're a phenomenal person

what you do in the community and the family. And you also were one of those guys while you were playing what you were doing with the government still do right, like you are a blueprint for a lot of us. So, like, I know, we had some tough battles out there, but you made me better and all of you guys did so I'm appreciative of you, man. I received that. I appreciate you, thanks for coming on the show. Thank you.

We're joined by two men who are changing the game of virtual reality with our company, Status Pro, Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones. What's going on, fellas? Appreciate you all coming, not too much. Appreciate you guys having this man. So one of the questions I really want to get to right away is, uh, Lamar Jackson. How in the world did y'all get him to be like the face of Status Status Pro? Also, how did you too link up to do this together? Did then get another guy? You

gotta start the yeah, yeah, yeah, jumped the gun. So originally to me and Troy were both former athletes. He was a Division one quarterback. Obviously I played in the league. Um while I was playing in the league, my older

brother played in the league back in the day. I got family members, and from my perspective, it was like, okay, in sports, when you're done, as you guys know, there's not a lot of avenues for you to continue to affect the game that you devote at your life too, And so I was trying to figure out a way to make the fact that you have experienced playing the

value propositions. So I started a company that was gonna start mobile application that literally would be just that the value was their expertise and so and that is I'm like, man, it's just like sixty and I'm in the league. I'm trying to get this company going. I'm trying to think of the next step. And I'm like, man, VR and A are is where things are going? How do we get there? And so I like basically scoured the country

looking for for companies to partner with. To make a long story short, Troy was running a sports strategy for VR, A our company that thought the same thing, and as former athletes, we just super clicked and it was like we met I think a seventeen um and then in lateen we like kind of came back together and started like, Yo, what does this look like to do this? Y'all study this in college like undergrad as far as like programming

or so. My story is obviously I didn't make it to the league, So like most athletes transitioning from college, I'm trying to figure out what my next step is rey at that point, so I had a bunch of random jobs from working in them all. Its working at

you know and finance at Morgan Stanley. Eventually I landed at the n f L p A is an intern and really just trying to trying to figure out, all right, where's the opportunity and it may make an impact, right like ultimately, as kids, that's ultimately what you want to do. Let your name mean something sports. So at that time I got introduced the virtual reality. I obviously understood the athlete perspective of where the game was going. Right in the p A, obviously the focus is preserved the player,

protect the player. Um So I partnered with two other gentlemen. We built this product that allowed players to practice against holograms because during phase one to begin to part O t A is you're not allowed to line up against a heartbeat, right, So this idea of all right, instead of you know, you simulating walk throughs against a trans can, what does it look like to actually put the defense up on on this big wall, through wall or through the VR headset and have your guys cycle through rep

cycle through formations. We ended up getting the Ravens to sign up. So from there I left the p A went into this full time. That's when Hawk and I connected and we kind of just hit it off running from that standpoint, and then we're business guys like our backgrouard players, but we understand like we're also both started as walk on That significant because we earned scholarships and

obviously went even even further. But it was like we approached the game from all the different angles, from preparation, how you prepare, knowing everybody on the field and what their jobs are, understanding from a fan aspect, you know what I'm saying, we're not five star recruits and that

that's significant. So as we built the consumer product and it's from the eyes of the athlete, it's like, yo, we are the best founder market fit to create this experience because we've been there a quarterback, and he's a quarterback. He knows how you scan the field, the things that as a fan they've always wanted that last level of access, which is what does it feel like to be on the field. And again we were subject matter experts there

and we just continued to build from that. So you're selling me on it right now and I don't know all of what it is. Like, how how did you sell lamar on On on your products? Yeah, so when we first have to had the training product that was going well, but then we saw this. We would put the headset on players, they would have fun, they wouldn't want to take it off. So I got together was like the head said, what is what? What it was? At the time, it was reality headset. It's called the

Microsoft HoloLens. Now in the game, we'll get to that, but it's on like the quest vr ha sbr UM. But we was like, what does it look like to build a game from it? It was nothing that ever existed. We knew the next step for fans was seeing what it would be like to be their favorite athletes and who's a human video game. At the time, it was Lamar Jackson, so he didn't have any endorsement deals at the time. It was his high year when he won

the MVP. We had some mutual connections, so we're like, hey, let's approach him and him and Felicia on it. The one thing about Lamar and Felicia is they love authenticity. They respect people who can who can relate. So we went to them with the opportunity. We put the headset on Felicia first. She loved it, believed in it's all the future. Eventually got what l did the same thing

Um and the rest was history. Now, he obviously is a big believer in a company, big believer in us, and practically family so and I think it was like a mutual like risks that that was taking right, Like, we started talking about Lamar after his rookie year, and that was when everyone was like, Oh, he's running the ball, he's not this, and he's not that, and we were like, yo, we think this guy is going to be the next level.

You think he's going to shock people. And that's when we started the conversations that I think our belief in that and then their belief in us, because at the time, it was just me and him and we're gonna We're saying, hey, we're gonna build this NFL game, We're gonna do all these things, and there was nothing that has ever been

like that before. And they were they were still like, Oh, we think we believe in YouTube, we believe in the vision that you're painting, and we're willing to basically going on this road together. And here we are to three years later. Well, it's it's crazy because like I grew up a video game advocate, like I'm all in on video games, and so now as everything has advanced. You know Madden you can do thirty different things with each

individual player. Now about a couple of pushes the button, and it's all going towards virtual reality because you want to be there. Not only do I want to I don't want to hit the button. I want to throw the pass now. And you're allowing these people to do this and give it the opportunity. I saw Mina Kimes was doing something on one of you guys social media pushes.

Big fan of Mina. She's a football junkie. So the more and more you get and you just introduce you to people, people that love football, that they want to play it but can't play it, this is a perfect opportunity for him. So I kind of like it. I need to put on some some goggles and get this thing at least to try. I want to win it a little bit. I need to try this thing a couple of times. Is it on the so? Is that how you I got the first one? I got the black Oculus, so I got to bother to sit the

new Oculus. We're also dropping on the PSBR two, which has a new headset coming out in February for the PlayStation five. This month, so yeah, get on there. It really is like an experience you've never had, you guys specifically, and that was kind of the insight we had early on is we had this idea, but we probably put it on to this point probably a five thousand players, and each and every time they take it off and they're like, Yo, that feels exactly like it was on

the field, and it's going to take you back. Man. My brother played teenage in the league, and he he had like, you haven't had that feeling in nine years? How would it in a quick version, Like, explain it to me if when I put it on and I'm not actually running, or am I if I'm a d lineman, do I just do my hands like left right or the farterback to start that. We're gonna eventually add all

the other positions. But the first part of the experience, when you first enter in you're running out of the tunnel, because we all know that as we're playing the game exactly, and I talked about it like, all right, what do we want our first time user experience to be? We're like, yo, running out of the tunnel. For me, it was my first game in college. We played Miami. I remember it. It It was a labor day weekend night. He talked about his experience, so we put that in and that's something

that everybody loves. Right as far as the game, you're the quarterback and feeling everything that comes with being the quarterback to control the command, Like everything starts and ends with you, right, So we're starting there, but the goal is to build it out to where again, eventually we got all positions that you can play a virtual game. Me and Hart versus y'all too. You know, I'm quarterback, he receiver and we're just going back and forth. Let's go. Yeah,

it's gonna be done. Number one. I could probably let's go.

I'm ready. I'm reading right now. You guys talked about YouTube and the team even coming together and all these other things, and maybe you guys tell me your experience or how you feel and knowing that you were two young brothers, African American mills in this tech space, there's not a lot of representation that looked like you, and so how does that make you feel knowing that you're doing that, and also what is it going to open up the doors to other possibilities for you guys and

others for me? It was. It was actually a similar a lot of parallels when I first started playing quarterback when I was younger, right, because this is before today right where there's a lot it's a lot of us um, but there was perceptions around how you had to be to be able to make it through and continue to play through high school through college. And I think with Hawk and I face is the same thing as entrepreneurs, right, like, Okay,

you got this perception, go to Harvard, Um. They've had this experience, they have that they come from this background which we don't have in gaming. Right, we're just two dudes that just know how to hustle us that's scrappy um, figuring it out as we go along. So it's been definitely been a journey, but we were used to that

because we've always been underdogs. And for me, like I said, I pulled from that experience of like feeling like, oh, the biggest thing I learned in sports was be you like, don't how to be the next quarter right, That's that way you gotta own into your skills. And I feel like we do the same thing with Status Pro. Just like Yo, we know what makes us different, we know what makes our companies stand out compared to the other gaming companies. Let's just lean into that, be that, and

you know eventually they'll they'll buy in. And I think we started to see that success is always, you know, the the best source of making believers right. And I think for Troy, we made that conscious decision decision really early that we were gonna be ourselves because it was very easy to go into this and be like, oh, we gotta make sure we check all these boxes to

get people to believe. And I'm gonna be completely honest and say there is times that works against us a lot of times, and even we with proven success, we still are trying to bust through the boxes that people put us in. But we do think the end result is going to be more people that people look at and just say, oh, they look what they've done, um, look at the way that they work and look at the output. We should give more people chances, and that's what we're hoping to be. I think it speaks to

being authentic. Yes, of course. I think when we start doing this podcast at some point, at one point in time, I think we were trying to do something a certain kind of way and be a certain kind of way, and I'm just like, hey, man, let's just let's just be us. Let's just do what we do. Let's just put the name on it, you know. I tell Thomas, like, if you're gonna give me a question, you can't write the whole thing out. I don't sound like that. I can't be like that. Just give me a bullet, bro.

I got auticity. Authenticity's true authentic self. And it kind of looks like that's what you're doing. You're taking your experiences from from working hard, playing football, and then you're applying it to this to the tech world, right, and you're making it your own, doing it your own way,

putting your own little spice on it. And that's yeah, that's how you have staying power to right, Like with you guys in the podcast, like if you're trying to be somebody else, you always be the second version of that. If your Peanut and all your viewers like, yo, we love Peanut, we love Harp, then there's nobody else that can do that. They have to come to you for that. So we're building as a company, like we're putting our own selves in the product and the way we built it.

And when there's success and everyone tries to say, well, now we're gonna rush to there, They're always going to be second fiddle because to get us, you gotta come to us, right, And that times into the lamar too. Right. So when we sit there with telling him what we're gonna do, how we're gonna execute it, and the fact that he can relate on this idea of just being authentic because obviously he is who he is at all times,

great guy. If anybody you know that it's close to him and tell you how his team guy team got first, and you know he's very passionate that way. But he's who he is. And some people, you know, they're not familiar with it, and you know they have their opinions about it. But I think for us that's what brought us all close because we're like, we're facing the same thing in a different way. Um and now you're starting to see the fruits of it with the game being

out his success. So it's just a lot of a lot. I would ask you guys this now, would ask any entrepreneur this. That's early stages and a lot of early stages. But starting out, you guys are still young in this is so how could more people. What can we do to help and not only that, but how can we help spread the word or what is something that your company is looking to do next? Like what's gonna be that next step for you guys? It's really great to

bust through. How do you create longevity or have this runway of now you're getting steady in coming all these others our company, you gotta we gotta stay alive. I think that's the beauty of it, right. I think the first point is to your point, busting through it was very very important for us to show the awareness and show what we're capable of. Like we don't ask people

were like, hey, where this you should go support? It's like, no, go play the game when you can't try it where you can you can try it the demos and stores or wherever, and if it's dope and you like it, tell people about it. And that's how we've grown. Like when we first launched the game, it was a slow trickle and the curve was kind of under low, and it started to pick up. And that's a great thing

for us because that means it's grassroots. That means people are talking about it means more and more people are finding it and communicating and we just gotta stay on that trajectory. And that's how you guys help try it. And when you're like, yo, this feels exactly like it does when I was in the stadium in New Orleans or in Chicago, say that, because then fans are like, Yo, if Peanut and Roman think that, then I need to

get in there and check it out, you know. So, so y'all must have a mouthpiece, right, Like meaning when I say mouth piece, something like, you know how to talk to people, you know how to sell stuff, right, So you gotta have them there since I know, startups or or it takes a lot to convince someone to give you millions, thousands whatever that money is where the number is. So you got lebron Naomi Osaka, who's I know he's an investor, Like what what is that like?

To have those influencers b yeah, A three big names Like what is that like? Yeah? I think for us it was about just getting people that understood what we were trying to execute the vision that we had and getting them to buy in. Right. So for us, it was like, Okay, we can get the staff from a drake,

from a man, from a Lebron from a Naomi. They're the best at what they do and if they see our vision that we it was validation that we were on the right track and we're doing something that we think consumers want, right, because all of them in some

way impacts they. You know, Drake sells his music, Lebron's obviously is Lebron, So how can we impact the sports fan and people who want to feel what it's like to experience with only one percent of people in the world, dude, Right, So for them to back is it was just kind of like, Okay, we're on the right track, We're headed in the right direction. Was it important that they were fans of football? I think so. I think yeah, because I mean this is where we're starting and they are

all football fans, um. I think that was important for them to come on with us. To Troy's point, the other thing that is really dope is I think I mean we have investors that are those who name Nao, Me, Drake, Lebron. We also have owners of NFL teams, we have leagues involved, we got some of the biggest VC firms. And to your back to your point about authenticity, I think they

feel that you know what I mean. And I think we have the ability to talk to the Lamars and the owners of NFL teams and they both completely understand and get division because of the way we painted and they see their part in it. And so when we were talking to all those people, we didn't try to oversell. We actually the opposite. We underseil and over delivered. That's

our motto, you know. And so I think over time people understand the kind of work that we put in and if they see the way that we're on this seven up early, going to sleep late, and they're like, yeah, there was a people I want to take a chance on because I know if if the worst case happening, it doesn't work, it's not going to be because they ain't working hard. They're not you know, drilled in on

the strategy in the gas. Yeah. Well look, man, I want to say thank you guys for coming out here, Thanks for telling us more about Status quo, sharing us with our listeners. I gotta play the game. I do too, and I have as I got the first version, Yeah, I got the black version, second ones like the white, the white, I got era. You gotta do all right, I'm with it. Thank you guys may appreciate you, Thank you,

thank you. Keep crushing the fellows. You guys are inspiring seriously than likewise appreciate it alright, pe Nut, I thought that was great. Number one. I thought Brandon Marshall was very vulnerable, and I always tell people vulnerability is strength, especially when you open up and you share those thoughts

and emotions. I thought he was beautiful the way he apologized to you, talk to you about being the teammate, where he lacked that in life and uh and his whole wellness, uh, goals and opportunities what he's trying to do now is really beautiful. And also with Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones, I mean, these guys are too bright, sharp guys for them to step out there and yeah, I can't. It takes so much faith and confidence to

be entrepreneur. I don't have those aspirations. I don't either, nor am I. I don't think I'm brave enough to do it. I'm not brave enough to do it because I haven't found the thing that I would want to be an entrepreneur in. I think if it were something that you wanted to do, say fashion sneakers, something like that, you, you might change your attitude as far as how much or how passionate you would be about that. The thing that I appreciated about Brandon was his authenticity. Like, um,

we had a moment, like I received it. I thought we were on bad terms. Now I shouldn't say bad you know what. You're not always great at taking compliments either, So it was a it was a really unique moment for me to witness it. Well, I'm just I feel like I'm like humble, and I try to just like no, no, you know, I just I try to, but yeah, you're right. But I really appreciated his authenticity. And I thought when he loved Chicago, we weren't like on the best of terms,

but we didn't hate each other. So for him to say those things, I was like, oh, man, okay, yeah, I appreciate that I received that. As far as you know Andrew and Troy, I I appreciate what they're doing and I love that they are stepping out into the tech world where it's probably a field that they're with other people that don't look like them, you know too, young African American males, and their their Troy place, and

they're doing some good things. And I'm I'm wanting nothing but success for those two gentle Medish and Brandon as well in their in their business. Man. I think another cool thing about Troy and and Hawkins is uh Hawker Andrew sorry, I used to play in football. Name is that is that Uh not only are they new to but they're so new to this space like this is

not something they grew up doing. This isn't something they studied in college, but still finding this niche market that like, you know what, we can we see a disruption happening here, and that is something that's so necessary when you're early stage entrepreneur guy and you dive in there and from them all of a sudden breakthrough, having their first breakthrough and having some of these meetings with these high level UH influencers and big money people, and it's a shout

out to them. Man. Y'all y'all doing a great job. Man. Yeah. Man. And so with all that being said, thank you guys as always to our listeners for always tuning in. Like I always remind you guys, because I know you do it,

but I just want to give a friendly reminder. Hit that hit that like button, give us a review, makes you hit follow, tell a friend, tell Peanut to tell his friend to tell another friend to join us, and uh continue to follow us anywhere you can hear your podcast, whether this Apple Podcast, I Heart Radio, or aywhere else you listen to your podcast. Thank you as always Peace m HM