And so the next day we told all the troops we're going to name the company GoDaddy dot com. And they go, that's a terrible dame. Why would you ever name a company that you know, we hate it? You know so well, the deal was, we never found the better name, and it's stuck. Yeah, And that was the extent of my market research. Hi, my name is Bob Parsons, and I'm here to tell you I'm the CEO of PxC dot com and I want to remind you that PxC nobody makes golf clubs the way we do. Harrian.
Hi everybody, and welcome to your favorite podcast and mine, Off the Beat. This is your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today we're gonna go way off the beat. Even for Off the Beat, We're going off the beat outside of our usual wheelhouse of factors and athletes. Today I am speaking to an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and well, my good buddy, Bob Parsons. If you don't know Bob, Bob is many
many things. He's a great golfer, a decorated Vietnam veteran, a motorcycle daddy, and yes he is a psychedelic crusader. Oh and by the way, the founder of some little companies you may have heard of, like Go Daddy and p XG. Now Bob is well, Bob is literally one in a billion because he's he's the first billionaire that we've had here on the podcast. Not not that anyone's counting, because I don't I don't think I could count that high. Yes,
you're gonna love Bob. He's a riot, he is sharp as attack, and I think this conversation is going to be in the wild sixths sas category with maybe just a hint of trouble. But just in case, buckle up. Everybody here is Bob Parsons. Bubble and Squeak. I love it Bubble and Squeak.
I know.
Bubble and Squeak.
I cook it every month, left over from the ninety before.
Hi, Bob, how are you doing there? Buddy? All right? How are you good? Good? I'm you know, I've been getting ready for this podcast.
Have you have you done so much work?
Well? No, no, I haven't done any fucking work. But what I've what I've done is I've drank some rum okay, and I had some potato chips. And that gives me the voice of an angel.
You're You're like me, Bob. You and I both we have the voice of an angel. How how have you been? Are you doing well?
Bryan? If I was any better, i'd be you baby.
Yeah, that's about right. That's kind of what I think about when I think about you, just almost like me.
There you go, there you go.
I actually did do some work in preparing for this podcast on you. I want to talk a little bit about your growing up. You have said over time that you grew up your parents were gamblers. Is that right?
Yeah? They were, and they weren't very good.
At what what What kind of impact did that have on you? Were you aware at the time that they were gambling and not very good at it?
Oh? Yeah, yeah I was. I was, well, you know, at the time, I wasn't really aware of how very bad at it they were, but you know, I knew that knew they were gamblers. Uh Like you know, my mother, for example, I learned how to read fraction. I learned how to you know, learned about fractions from her teaching me how to read the racing form, you know, And I remember, as clear as it was yesterday, her showing me that eighth is really a bigger number than the sixteenth.
Right, right, that's true. Do you think that that in any way later in life is what helped your decision to get into accounting and finance. Is there a correlation? You know?
I you know, I would like to say there was, but there wasn't. I mean, the way I got to be into accounting was I got to go to the University of Baltimore by a program they offered to veterans. Now keep in mind, I failed the fifth grade and I wasn't much better any other year. You know. The only reason I graduated high schools because I joined the Marine Corps was going to Vietnam, and my teachers took pity on me. Right, So, I mean, my grades were
nothing to really write home about. So I was working as a laborer at a steel mill, and I've seen this at the University of Baltimore did for veterans. They said, look, you, you know, as long as you've graduated or have a GED and if you don't have a g D, we'll help you get one. Right, you know, you know that's all you need. Your grades don't matter, you don't have to take any entrance exams, and you go on to GI Bill Well to me, that's what I did. So
I went over. I went over there and I went into the registrar's office and said, you know, I want to go to college, and he goes, well, what do you want to major in? And I didn't even know you needed a major to go to Nobody in my family ever went to college. I just thought you went to college, right, So I then went He says, you go see his counselor. While I went to see this guy, and there was a line down the hall, ran another hall around. If i'd have waited for this guy still
be waiting to see him, right. So I went back and I said, I said to the guy at a registrar, I said, anyway, I can pick my major, and goes sure, here's a book of majors. I opened it up. First major in the book was accounting, and I asked him I said, uh, what is this? And he goes, what's the county? He goes, well, are you good at Are you good at math? I said yeah, reasonably, I guess, goes anything and he goes, I have you interested in a business? Said I am, and he goes, well, probably
should take accounting. So I did, and luckily it was a fortuitous choice because I loved it, right, and and I graduated Magna cumb claude with a degree in accounting.
Yeah, so let me ask you, so, why do you think that you were such a bad Was it? Was it about applying yourself?
Like?
Why were you such a bad student? Almost failed the fifth grade, barely graduate from high school? And then you know you suddenly you're Magna cumbloude from UNI of Baltimore in accounting, Like what what was that? What was the change?
Well, a couple of things. First of all, you know, if I was a kid in school today, I'd be pumped full riddling. That's first thing. Right. They used to give me these yellow it's yellow number two Taykonda Rogan pencils and I would chew them down, baby, inside an hour. And then I have yellow paint all over my face. I look like a rapid little beast, you know. And then and then that stuff at home, things were like nuts. So you know, it didn't make for me really focusing
on school. So I mean I just I managed to squeak by. Now the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps focused me and made all the difference.
Yeah, that's why I graduated and if you can't, you can't see Bob right now, but he's wearing a shirt on right now. This says US Marines attitude is everything. I know. You're great love for the people, both passed in service and and current service members. Your decision to join was this because you didn't know what else to do? Or did you have a particular passion and knew you wanted to pursue that? In high school?
Very few things have I done because I have a particular passion. I'll tell you that right now. I mean, I've developed that after the fact. But in my senior year I was I discovered alcohol and the opposite sex, and you know that really doesn't make you know, that doesn't really get you ready for the teens list. So so I was not doing well and I didn't think I would even have enough grades to graduate. So I had two guys come to me after gym class one day and they asked me to say, what do you know,
what are you going to do after you graduate? I said, I'll probably still be here, and I'll still be here. I don't think I want to graduate, yea, So they said, why don't you you want to go with us? We're going to go talk to the Marine Corps recruiter. All three of us wound up joining And now this is in nineteen sixty eight, and in nineteen sixty eight, and then in nineteen sixty nine. I'll give you by comparison to war in Afghanistan, the casualty rate there one hundred
and fifty a week, both sides killed them wounded. All right, one is too many. I'll tell you that right now. When I listed in the Marine Corps, that number was thirty two thousand, seven hundred a week. Yeah, so you know, we didn't know. We didn't know that we were off to have an adventure see foreign lands. So anyhow, when I went ahead and managed to get accepted into the Marine Corps, I showed my teachers my orders a report to boot camp that August, and they all passed me.
Yeah, that's a lot of extra credit.
You know.
We used to get extra credit for I don't know, reading a book or something. You got extra credit by joining the Marine Corps. Wounded in Action while serving in Vietnam. Recipient of the Combat Action Ribbon, Vietnam Gallantry Cross and the Purple Heart. Is this the hardest thing you ever did?
You know, and in many respects I would say, yeah, yeah, I mean it is. You know, being in in combat is is very painful. The stuff you have to carry is you know, very awkward and very heavy, which translates to pain, and you get very little sleep to no sleep. I mean, it's just I mean it is. It is every aspect of it's uncomfortable. I remember laying in those rice patties at night with mosquitoes even as fite, even though we you know, we had repellent chewing the shit
out of me. And then it's grizzly. I mean it is. It is grizzly, beyond your imagination. So it is not a happy thing, that's for damn sure. But that's being in combat.
Is it the thing that you're most proud of in your life?
Yeah? I think so, I think so.
Yeah, you you come back. You were injured in action? Now, is that is that why you left?
No? No, no, actually actually actually in the Army Navian Air Force, if you were wounded you could opt out of combat in the Marine Corps three times. Of course. It is a fucking course, it is, of course, you know, you know, the Army Davian Air Force, our tour was twelve months Marine Corps thirteen months. Ow fucking course, it is right, oh Jesus Christ. So so any anyhow, I
I I what happened with me? Where I was walking on a point team one night and I was walking second to the point man, a real high stepping guy. He stepped over a tripwire. I mean he didn't see it. It was pitch dark. He was just lucky. Well, I'm not that high stepper. I hit the trip wire was attached to a North Vietnamese hand grenade, which is best I can determine. That thing blew and I mean it tore up my legs and my left EBow, but it
wasn't a life threatening wound. So I was in the hospital in Japan, was there recuperating for a couple of months. And then when I healed up, when I was close to healing up, I got orders back to the bush. Baby God, yeah, my god. So on my way back through a crazy series of events, get ready for this, get ready for this, yere put the sea pelowin.
All right.
I wound up in Marine Corps intelligence because my grades and so forth, I was exactly the kind of guy that was wow, and I was stationed on Okinawa and and and what happened was I ran into a guy on my last night there. Who I saved this guy's life the first night in the bush helicopter with a he was he was stunned from this guy being injured. I mean, and and a matter of fact, chopper was going to land on him. I've seen it. I ran push, push, push push the chopper missus boats. We tripped over a
rice patty dyke in to that ship. But I saved his ass and mine too, right. So uh, he was wounded a couple of weeks later, and that was his third wound. So he was stationed in intelligence and in Okinawa. And I ran into him and he said, you know, you saved my life. I get your station here, And I said, yeah, okay, you know you hear so much bullshit in the military. Right, So when I fell out from my flight to Vietnam to go back to the rightful company, I had order of station to meet Aaron
and okaw, we got it done. So, I mean, that's how that happened. It was just the right time, baby.
Be in the right right place at the right time. How how many years did you serve two well two. Right you left. You talked about going to the University of Baltimore and finding something that you were really good in numbers and accounting and business. Your first business was selling a home accounting program, money Counts. Now this is before there were computers at home.
Well this is this is right at the beginning of it up.
Beginning of home computers. Did you use a computer with it? Yeah, of course I did.
Of course I did. You know what I did? Was I developed when I was in It was nineteen seventy five. Keep in mindy IBM computer wasn't released until nineteen.
Eighty, right, That's what I was thinking. So I was.
I was working in accounting for this leasing company, Commercial Credit Leasing, and they would send me different places to just schedule the asset cities leasing companies they wanted to buy. So they sent me to Redwood City, California and company that did exotic cars. I scheduled it, and when I was done, I had twelve hours left to kill between when my flight was and the current time. So I wound up on Stanford campus and I was like bookstores. I went to a bookstore and I bought a book
on programming in the Basic computer language. And I started reading it while I was waiting for the flight, and read all the salient points, and I wrote my first computer program, won a flight. And it just so happened that in my office we were owned by a company called Control Data, which was one of the first computer companies, okay, and we had a terminal, a dumb terminal looked like a teletype machine. There weren't even monitors then, and it
happened to run this basic computer language. And so I finally got my program running. And then I started doing that programming all the time if I could to make my job easier. And when Apple two E was out two C was out, bought one of those. And then I bought an IBM PC, and unlike a lot of people, if I wanted it to do something, I wrote the code and I also studied the internals, and I got to be really good at it. And so when I wrote a home computer program, and in nineteen eighty four,
I decided to try selling it. That's the genesis of that.
Wow, that's unbelievable, Bob. Did you get any Did you have any in the military. You didn't. There was no math or finance anything that you got there, right, this was all the University of Baltimore and your own big brain.
Yeah exactly. I mean in the military, I mean, you know, in the Marine Corps. I'm pretty much surprised they weren't using stone tablets. So what I got out it was all manual. Baby.
Yeh, that's incredible. You sold Parsons technology to into it. Well, first off, do you think it was the idea that you had fulfilling a specific need or the way that your programs operated that made you such a big success growing it from really a small business into this multimillion dollar company.
Well, you know, it was first of all, you know, I wasn't even thinking about filling a need. I was thinking about feeling a need for me for keep track of my own finances. Okay, So that's how I wrote that program called Money Counts. And it got to be good because it was the only double entry system. Everything else was single entry and you know, a little half assed and so forth back at that time, and so anyhow, so you know, first of all, it was it was
pretty good. It took me three years to learn how to sell it, a lot of false starts, but I put a total of forty thousand dollars into business, and I wound up selling it for sixty four million.
Yeah, that's that's a pretty good return on that investment. What's what's harder, bob making the product or getting people to buy it?
I would say both. It's like it's like the angeline in the gasoline. You know what's more important?
Right?
Well, I mean, you know today it would be the engine or the electric assuming they ever fucking sell one in them. Right.
You retired a few for a few years after that sixty four million dollar sale? Why why not stay retired?
Well? First, you know, I like you. I like golf. Okay, Right, So I had a year where I couldn't Yeah, better, maybe a little more than a year, but I had a year where I couldn't do anything. And I mean, this agreement not to compete was I couldn't do anything, right, shine a pair of shoes, and you know they had a whole back, I'd forfeit it and so forth. It
was stupid. So so any anyhow, so what I did was I started playing golf, and I moved to Arizona, and I was and you know, if you're playing every day, you know the only guys you're going to play with. Are the guys that are retired, right, I mean long retired, right, And so I mean I'm like at the time, I'm forty five years old and I'm playing with all these old men every day. And see, Brian, I got to
learn certain things about him. There's a when when a guy reaches a certain age, right, he's like a super senior. He starts dressing in strange ways. You know, they look like they look like they look like flags from other countries. It's like, what the fuck? You know, for Christmas, I'm going to get you a mirror. But that's but that's what they do, right, So uh, I you know, I and at night, I wanted to be back in the game, right, So that that's why I came out of retirement.
You come out of retirement and you you started this little business called go Daddy. I read that you wanted to call it Big Daddy. A warning to listeners out there, don't go to big daddy dot com. That's very, very different than go Daddy. It was formerly known as Joe Macs Industries. You do domain web hosting became the largest in the world. What was it about this company? What what did you see before anybody else saw it.
Well, well here's here's you what I did. You know, when when I first started, I had I had a lot of money.
I had.
I had like thirty six million dollars and I thought, well, you know what, I know the Internet is going to be the thing, so I need to find a way to turn a buck on the internet. So so what I did. I hired a number of very intelligent people and we tried a bunch of different things, and what the idea was, if it didn't work, we quit doing it, and if it did, then we keep doing it. That's called a search fund. Very difficult way to make money. So,
I mean, we did a number of things. None of them worked, but the only thing that gained traction was we were doing websites for people and that worked. I mean, that made money. So we had a number of people ask us, do you have a product that I could use where I could do my own website, And that was the idea that came up with the genesis of our product, website complete so people would do their own website.
Passed nineteen dollars and you know that sort of thing. Well, the problem was, it was a couple of problems The first problem was there was so much noise from the dot com boom that people didn't see us right and and and the second the second thing was the name Joe Max Technology. This kind of was very forgettable. So me and my right hand person, a lady by the name of Barbara Rectorman, we went to work and to
come up with a new name. And so after about three days and nights, one of us says, how about big Daddy taken? How about fat Daddy taken? And then I remember to go command from AOL used to be and type go disc go that, and I typed in go Daddy available. So Brian, we bought it as a joke. And and so the next day we told all the troops We're going to name the company GoDaddy dot com. And they go, that's a terrible fucking name. Why would you ever name a company that you know? We hate it?
You know? So well, the deal was, we never found the better name, and it's stuck.
It stuck.
Yeah, And that was the extent of my market research. The name cost me nine bucks.
That's smart though I never thought. I never put that connection together because it was with the with the old AOL, which of course everybody had, and you know, initially, I mean that was my first email account and access to the internet, of course was AOL that's very very smart. Not surprisingly, that business was very successful. You get into Go Daddy because you see the Internet as a possibility
and you want to make money. Now, my impression is that after that, you decided to do things that you wanted to do, things that were passion projects of you, like motorcycles. You like to ride motorcycles, right, Bob, I do. Yeah, So now you own motorcycle dealerships because that gives you joy. Is that an accurate statement? You started doing work for things that bring you joy?
Well, yeah, you know I did. Yeah, and then and then they eventually, uh after I got into the business, said no longer brought me joy, okay, And then and then we had to make it work. Now motorcycles. I mean, you know what what I'm telling you, My dad told me, Brian, when I was a kid, I mean, when I started my first business, he said, it is always going to seem to you like the other guy's business is easier, he says, don't you ever believe it. They're all tough.
And so I found that out about motorcycles. It took me a couple of years to figure out how to do it. Now we know how to do it. I owned seven of them, right, But I have to tell you before I shift away from going daddy, I have a Twitter story.
Okay, all right, So here I am. This is This is in.
I'd say about two thousand and six to thousand and seven. I mean, I am selling a couple of three domain names, the second right, and we got all these people that are interested in Twitter handles, and we got this search algorithm that is looking stuff up and so forth. So I get the idea that man would be just as easy for us to get a Twitter handle and sell it for you know, offer it for whatever they you know, you know we ought to paying then pay Twitter half
of that. And I mean they rack up a stack of cash because they're giving them away now for nothing, right right, So, and I mean, I mean it's made them, made them millions. So I go to them. We go to them and talk to them and we tell them this. You know what they told us. We don't care about revenue, really yeah, and that's what our men, Eli Musk found out. You know, the fucking idiots are running the aside, And you know, I was like, well, have you told your bank set? Yeah?
Did you do it anyway?
Oh?
Fuck? No?
Okay, all right, No, why why why would I do that for them if they're not gonna even if they don't want it, right christ And knowing them, they'd have probably sued me to stop me.
Right to not to not allow them to make money. They would have sued you. That's crazy. I thought you were going to tell me you were about to take over Twitter. That's what I thought was going to be the big news. But no, you just tried to No, no, there's no way. I mean to me, I would be like a grand to have symphilis, motorcycles, golf. Now you said it doesn't give you Golf still gives you joy, right yeah, okay, but not motorcycles. Motorcycles.
Motorcycles do too. I love them, I mean I just love them, right yeah.
But but not the business of it.
Well no, I love the business of it because now now I know it. But what I'm telling you is everything is difficult, and so it took us. Took us quite a while to figure out how to make money with a motorcycle dealership. Now that we know I love running it, take care of my customers like nobody else does, and it is it is a blast.
Uh you speak of golf. You bought one of my favorite golf courses in the world. It's Goottsdale National Golf Course and the founder, the grand Poobah of my favorite golf company, p x G Parsons Extreme Golf, which well, does it better than anybody. Has It made you fall more in love with the game or just the business?
Yeah? You know, you know PHG. Yeah, I love the company. I love the operation, and we work all the time on figuring out the best ways to do it. No company has customer service like we do. And I believe that our clubs are the finest clubs made in the industry.
Yes, well, you are putting your money where your mouth is, unlike anything that has ever been done in the golf world before. You just had the new Gen six clubs come out and you are so caught. I love this both about you and the company. You are so confident that your clubs are the best of the business that you have a contest now this August where you are allowing people to come in hit their own drivers and then hit yours and if their's wins, you give them cash, right.
Bucks, Yeah, give them hundred bucks. Put on a master card.
Done, MasterCard, one hundred bucks. If their own driver that they own and are used to hitting outperforms yours. You're that confident now. I was told by one of our good mutual friends. You casually did this competition and out of fifty eight times people came in to try to get clubs or we're trying out clubs. Out of fifty eight times, fifty five your driver won. Why do you
think that this gen six? What do you think you have found now that even though they were great before, what have you found now that has made them even better?
Okay, well, here's what I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you again. We make the finest equipment in the world. Yeah, that's the first time. Okay, hold that in your mind. Okay, all right. The second thing, we have tested it against everything. We're the tall hal get the crows, brother, that's the trunk. Yeah. And the deal is it is not only the longest,
the most forgiving, and it's the most accurate. Right, And so you know the we won fifty five out of fifty eight times, and we lost those three due to flukes. I can assure you.
Right, yeah, you you you have said in terms of putting your money where your mouth is, that you can't win a farting contest unless you're willing to shit your pants. And you you are. This is what I was told. And you're you're, you're, you're entering this farting contest and you're going against everybody.
Yeah, and you know, you know I am, but you know this particular farting contest. It's like like the tables in Vegas. You know, I know I'm gonna win, right right, So so so bring them on and then the worst they'll do is they'll get to hit a really good driver.
Right. I love that. I love that you're doing this. By the way, you famously there's no one more confident than you. But here's the other thing. You make great products that you don't. You don't have to worry about your confidence because it always works, right Bob. Well, there you go. You're you're at the ten year mark with PXG and one of the things that you all do you wait to release I mean ten years and this
is the sixth generation. It feels to me like all the other golf companies come out with a new club every six weeks or so, but you really take the time and you and I have talked about this before, where you really work on and research, do tons of testing before you let anything go out to the market.
Yeah, that's true. That's true.
You know.
It's like and there's a lot of jealousy in the industry, you know, I'll tell you that, Like we we have a few competitors. One competitor for sure, who who I won't name, your spreading ship lies about our equipment, you know, because we have the thinnest face in golf and we have an explosive core. Uh they say, well, that makes it very inaccurate, you know, front the back and left,
the right and so forth. Actually, are golf dot Com tested, I mean every new club this year, are our irons are the most accurate?
Yeah?
Yeah, so, I mean so that did wrong? Whe that?
And uh so?
So anyhow, I mean, you know, like, for example, you can cut a competitors club open and it looks like a dumpster inside. All right, Yeah, you know, you cut ours open and it looks like a Marine Corps drill team. I mean, everything is perfect. So, I mean, it's just I mean, that's just the difference in what we're doing.
I have to talk to you about psychedelics, Bob. I know when you returned from combat you suffered from PTSD. First off, if you would talk to me a little bit about your own experience and how psychedelics has helped you.
Well, here's what happened before I went to Vietnam. You know, I had a pretty rough childhood, so I was carrying some of that. But I was still a pretty happy guy. Loved going places, meeting people, all those sorts of things. But after Vietnam, the Bob that came back was very different from the Bob that left. Bob that came back. People would describe me as very intense. I had a flash temper. I didn't feel like I got belonged no matter where I was at. So I didn't want to
mostly be with other people. Uh, you know, isolation was you know something that that I did, and I was. I was a pretty focused guy. Now, you know the good side of all that is the way I dealt with my PTSD. I buried myself in my work and often I think if I hadn't had PTSD, would I've been so successful? Yeah, I don't know for sure, I'd have been a lot happier, for sure. And the other thing is I cry every now and then, always when I was alone. I mean, a lot of depression goes
with that. And so for sure cost me my first two marriages. I mean, you know, both of them hungowners. God bless them. They both hung on as long as they could. And then finally they put a boot in my ass and send me back. And I got cut from the team twice. And then when I met my third wife, Renee Renee, Yeah, she turned out to be it's She's just a wonderful, wonderful person. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. So she hung in
with me. In nineteen eighteen, I read Michael Collins book called How to Change Your Mind, and it's all about it's a treatise one the Bible, one's psychedelics. And so I went to my wife and I said, you know, I'd like to try this, maybe it'll help me. Because what happened was, over the years, PTSD didn't get better,
got worse. And so she had me hooked up with a couple of guides in two weeks, and I met with them and on the first day I took ayahuasca, and you know, there was a lot of talk, a lot of exchange, you know, the stuff that I was dealing with and so forth. And at the end of that a lot of tears, a lot of tears. And at the end of that, I still remember it was psilocybin or magic mushrooms. God said to me, I swear to Christ, find this is true. I mean, I says,
no bullshit here. And I realized that it's like, you know, it's just the same as putting your hand on the Bible when somebody talks to you. Right. So first he made this this pot of tea, and he goes his tea holds three cups and he goes, I really made it strong. You're only going to need one cup, Brian. I drank all three cups and I ate the tea. Bags. Oh brother, I was on the roof. So so we took him to revisited, relived a lot of stuff, and uh.
The next day I took off and he said, you don't need a break, baby, And so I I taken go play golf with Renee and we played and we played nine holes and when I went out, it was like the trees knew I was there, you know, and and you know, the leaves they all like, hey, Bob, hey, tell buddy. So I got to the green and the greens told me where the butt? Okay, they told me hit the but but I made so many long putts I never missed. I never putted that good in my
whole life. And so I went back and that was the third day. On the fourth day, it was LSD and yeah, and I mean and.
That was.
That was that was pretty that was pretty well. But after I was done, you know, it's important to realize, you know, if I'd just took psychedelics for those three days, I wouldn't have changed much. Psychedelics with the right guides does because you know, the therapy does the healing, the psychedelics make it possible.
So the psychedelics open you up to be able to discuss and go places that you would not if you had not taken it.
Is that right, exactly? And willing to accept change.
Okay, all right?
So after that, my wife noticed it, you know she you know, she's kept saying to me, man, you seem different. There's so much calmer and happier, and you know, willing to you know, even do some certain things, you know, And when I got back to my office, the people in the company goes, what the fuck is he out at the bob? You know, I mean this guy, I
mean he is, He's complementary. He again so calm, you know, he says such nice things, you know, and I mean in the meantime, I mean before that, it was like he's the most attense person I've ever worked it, right, Christ, get him away from me. I mean even my son told his wife, he said, you know, I'm worried that my father is going to die soon. She goes, Whye, he goes, well, he keeps calling. He calls more than
he ever did, and he's so nice to me. I worry that he's found out he's going to die soon. And he says change. Well, you know, I had to set him straight, and we did. But it had been forty nine years since the war and I finally came home.
Wow, that's awesome. I mean, had you had experience taking these drugs recreate? I mean I don't even know. I guess that's had you had experience with psychedelics previously without.
The door No, no, because you know, I believed all the standard boshit. I thought if I took LSD, I'd climb up on a roof and jump off, thinking I could fly. Well, you know that's not the case, right, you know, and so forth. So I would have never taken them. But after I read Michael's book and I understood that these things is what they're healing power was, then I said, I'm on board.
It's that's incredible. I mean, I was hoping that you were going to say that, because I think that's the issue that we're dealing with right now. Right we have something that may really be able to help people, particularly veterans, people who are suffering with PTSD, either from the military or something else, but there's a stigma attached that, you know, makes people scared or or not able to use it. I have to tell you all this. I saw these numbers.
This is absolutely staggering. Bob and his foundation Bob and Renee Parsons, has given over fourteen million dollars to psychedelics funding and total funding aimed at impacting PTSD. Bob one hundred over one hundred and nine million dollars. You truly are putting your money where your mouth is and and trying to help others who are dealing with the same things that you have been. I that's incredible.
Well, you know, I do that because I know how important it is. And I do it because I can do it. And there's a there's a there's a saying in the Bible to him who much has given, much is expected. Yeah, and so we try to take that the heart. And I know that when the day comes when we fucking wake up and that, you know, we wake up and we know that, okay, that this stuff
is as important as it is. Like, for example, on the third field trials for m d m A, which we help fund of hardcore cases, somebody being treated with md m A by a trained clinician or you know, the therapists, psycho psychologists, psychiatrists, after three sessions, sixty seven percent are completely cured.
Come on, is that that's incredible?
Right? And and and so this is the third time. I mean, they don't ever have results like this, and they're thinking about it, so you know, I mean, you know, they're you know, they got their steps that they have to do and and you know, and I understand and I have no criticism of them, but uh, you know, they have a lot of people that they got to deal with politicians and to say the least. So they're working on it. But I mean, you know something some
of the crazy stuff. Crazy stuff is you know, there was there was an an initiative up in front of Congress to make uh to study marijuana for its it's possible healing effects. And even though there was a lot of support for it on the Republican side, they voted against it. And the reason they voted against it, and and you know, I'm not necessarily faulting them, I mean in a way I am, but I'm in a way I'm more faulting the process. Right, they voted against it
because it was introduced by a Democrat in the Senate. Now, had it been introduced by a Republican, what a pass? I mean, that's the way it's you know, our government works.
Yeah. I think it's noteworthy that you have chosen to not be an investor in these psychedelic therapies, that you have chosen to use it through your foundation to give because you feel like people may not trust your story and it adds credibility to your story. You feel that passionately about this and how it can just plain help people that you're willing to to not be an investor, but to give Is that right?
Well, I mean you think about it. Let's say I'm investing in psychedelics being approved. Well, I mean, you know, and this, I am not faulting at all people that invest in this stuff because we need them completely, because they're the ones that will carry the day, right all right, But to just for we're right now at a stage where credibility is absolutely important. And given the fact that I have no act to grind in it, I have no money to make in it. All I have to do.
What I get out of this is to be able to sit back and smile and say, you know what I helped to this. That's it. One other thing in my rifle squad, you know, I was, I was operated on a squad level in Vietnam, and my squad we were out on an ambush every night. And every night, you know, in Vietnam, they're no front lines, so we'd go out a couple of miles and we set up in a little circle and the only safe place Brian
was inside that circle. And so you know, the guys I was with, you know, I mean, most of them seen far more combat than I did. I mean, I was wounded after a month and I never went back to combat. So, I mean, the guys that served so much more combat, seen so much more than I did. But squad leader and the machine gunner dear friends of mine to this day. I fucking love those guys. They're crazy bastards, but I love them. And so both of them were carrying this PTSD cross. I got them together
and we went to another location. I had the same GUIDs go through it with us that you know I went through with them before, and I went through it again with them because to get them to do it and both of them.
Come home, that's incredible, both.
Of them, both of them, both their wives told me, he says, I mean, one of them said, you know, he's now talking to his sons about the war. He would never do that before. He's so relaxed. I finally got my husband back, and I mean, and the other one said the same thing, same thing. Yeah, So, Brian, the stuff works well.
I mean, look, you're a veteran, you created a number of successful businesses. But it seems to me that if you can get this help get this passed, the use of this uh these therapy is to help people that truly need it. This uh, this could be your legacy? Will that be? Will that? Will that? Would that be acceptable for you?
You know what, I don't need a legacy. No. Once I'm gone, baby, you know what, just flush the toilet.
Well I hear along those lines, you signed the giving pledge, Is that right?
Yeah? I did. Yeah. My wife is the one that was really interested in that, so I signed that with her, you know. And at the end of the day, what it says is that, uh, we're you know, we'll we'll, we'll give half of whatever we have to charity after we're dead. And you know, after I'm dead. I'm a pretty generous guy.
Well, you're a pretty generous guy now. In twenty twenty two, you gave a million dollars to to try to advocate for people with PTSD. That's one million dollars every fourteen days. The trend is continuing this year. You're you're pretty damn generous now, Bob, and you're pretty damn good at what you do. God bless you. Thank you for being exactly who you are.
One little thing I'd like to point out that we do move a million to charity every fourteen days. But it's to a combination of causes. Yeah, you know, and not not all of it is for PTSD, and so okay, I mean, you know we got we got a lot of other problems to Brian, I know it.
You give a lot to the Scottsdale area and other important foundations around the world. Why stay in Scottsdale? What is it about that area for you?
You know what, I could live anywhere in the world, and I choose Arizona. I think Arizona is one of the last great states. Yeah, it is hotter and shit in the summer. I love it. I can't be hot enough. You know, it was hot for one hundred and ten degrees for twenty three days. You know what. You know it gets rid of people. I mean, and you know not so many people live there, right.
I have to tell this story. I don't know if you'll remember what the commercial was. The very first time I met you a number of years ago, I showed up at Scottsdale National Golf Club. And I mean when I say on the course, I don't mean like on a cart path somewhere or out by you know, the restaurant in the middle of the course. There was the biggest,
most executive looking desk that was sitting out on the course. Bob, you were shooting a commercial and you were pounding on this desk and you were behind this desk on this golf course. And I looked over and went, wow, that is a That is a badass. That is a badass. He just like this is this he this, he is. He is indeed the head of his domain, so much so he's gonna put a desk on the middle of golf course to show everybody who the boss is. Not
that they didn't know already. That was just amazing, you know.
You know. One of the story behind that. One one of the golf magazines came up with that idea, okay for to take a photo, you know, to head up to the interview. And I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and and and I have tattoos, big tattoos with both arms, so you could you could see them. And uh, you know most of my tattoos are under karmas. I mean, you know that's my wife. You know, she don't want me looking like a com when I go out publish.
Well, keep doing what you're doing, Bob. I am so so grateful to you and thankful for the work that I do with you. I am so thankful for what you are doing for other people. Look, people may love you, they might hate you, but God blessed, they're going to respect you because of all that you have accomplished, everything you put your mind to, and I wish you nothing but the best.
Well, always a pleasure to see you, buddy.
Thank you so much, Bob. Bob, You're amazing. What an incredible life you have lived, and I feel so lucky that you took the opportunity to share it with me with us today. I'm going to see you out on the course soon. I fully intend to dominate you with your very own creation by p XG Clubs. Uh, listeners, I'm gonna see you. Well, no, that's not right, I'm gonna hear. I'm gonna You're gonna I'm gonna talk at you whatever it is. I'm gonna be right here on
the podcast next week. You should come back and listen again. Until then, well, I hope you have a great week. Off the Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Ling Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary and our intern is Thomas Olsen. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and Only Creed Brandon