Fundraising Inspiration with Paris Dean

Transcript

00:01.92
Paris
So.

00:02.50
wearabletakeover
But we are fact season 2 of the word we takeover podcast folks. Did you miss us. Hopefully by now you have tuned into all of season 1 where we featured some of our wearable founders and partners within the ecosystem and hopefully you also listen to some of those episodes that launched in December so that you are prepared to take 2023 by the rains. But you know what? I am so excited because. We have someone featured on today's episode that you all must know you will hear this name and if you are ever lucky to be in his presence.

00:37.17
Paris
Boy.

00:50.47
wearabletakeover
Make sure you give him my high-fi for me. Okay, because I just think the world of him and so today to kickoff to help kickoff season 2 We have a midwestern although you know folks from detroit they don't they just like to say Detroit right? Ah, but we have a fellow midwesterner.

00:54.81
Paris
Um, with hope.

01:01.76
Paris
Oh.

01:10.44
wearabletakeover
Harris Dean I'm so excited about Paris Paris is the quintessential problem solver and serial entrepreneur and he started his first business at 11 and so I like that that he has that story of start and entrepreneurship at the age of 11. We do some stuff like that here at wearable tech ventures. He was actually the youngest black design engineer at 1 of the big 3 at 20 years old and he had an exit to a fortune 10 company at 22hehadclientsintenstates and three countries at the age of 25 and check this out folks. He managed a $300000000 real estate portfolio at the age of 27 I'm not done. He was also nominated for the forbes 30 under 30 award at 29 as the founder and ceo of spare and homes. Which is a first of us kind real estate marketplace that actually uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make home ownership more accessible and I think that something is really going to interest some of our genzeers as well as the millennials and I know people hate those labels but there's so many articles about. Age demographic and some of the plights that they face as they even think about home ownership. But I'm not done folks I'm really excited because I actually met paris when he was featured as one of the 12 founders in the inaugural tech stars.

02:39.12
wearabletakeover
Equitech accelerator in Baltimore so when he's not working because he's been taking some naps. He's been working on it. Okay, but he does work a lot. You can find him at somebody sushi bar mentoring listening to prince. Working to make the arts accessible to innercity youth and using his platform to create opportunities for the next generation aren't you happy he doesn't do all of that at the same time folks I want you to give a warm virtual welcome to Paris deed Paris.

03:13.46
Paris
I Don't see you have him on the side of the screen ready to go.

03:15.60
wearabletakeover
Um'm bringing out my pom poms fairs I'm so excited to have you here? Yeah ah and Perris you were a guest as well during our virtual hackathon in the summer of 2022 and so shout out to.

03:31.56
Paris
Um.

03:33.80
wearabletakeover
Our partner. We. Love you baltimore times that began to feature some black founders and and especially black founders in the Baltimore area that were doing amazing things but parachute, you've come a long way but you know what before we get into all of the success stories of technical stuff. What's your. Favorite Prince song.

03:56.68
Paris
Oh boy, Um, that's a hard question I feel like it's a trick question. Um, because you can't really have one because he's got so many? Um, he's done rap. He's done rock. He's done R and b.

04:04.28
wearabletakeover
Okay.

04:13.53
wearabletakeover
Okay.

04:13.63
Paris
Jazz I didn't like any of his jazz stuff. Um, he's just done so much of of everything across so many different genres so it's really difficult to pinpoint one. But if I have to choose 1 if somebody said.

04:31.80
wearabletakeover
Wow.

04:31.45
Paris
I'll give you all the money that you're raising if you choose 1 print song I would have to say is baby I'm a star with my song so many that that were my I always say if I ever was an athlete that would be my song in that plate when I came out.

04:36.24
wearabletakeover
Oh my gosh.

04:48.61
wearabletakeover
I Love it. Um, that song has a special meaning for me as well. My line sister that passed away that was one of the songs that we played at her ceremony. But I love it and Prince by the way has a special place in my heart I promise. Ah.

04:56.84
Paris
Ah, minute.

05:04.23
wearabletakeover
Folks for those of you that out there if you're not familiar with the East Coast the East Coast is known for seafood and Baltimore specifically is known for crap which I do not eat but I do eat lobster and so I recall that. The day I found a place where I could go and get lobster rolls I promised Paris I would take him and go get a loster roll the celebratele graduating from techsars. But the day I found that restaurant was actually the day that prince died and I left my office that day because I and I didn't feel right that day I didn't know what was going on and as soon as I got to that restaurant. That's when I found out Prince Died so

05:23.83
Paris
Um, who.

05:37.61
wearabletakeover
Anyway, we'll have to go there and you know partake of some Baltimore cuisine now that you're here because you're you're living here now right? So you moved from Detroit to Baltimore as a result of being in tech stars and so for our listeners that.

05:46.87
Paris
Um, come here.

05:54.38
wearabletakeover
They've been. They've been catching up and ramping up so we've been training them building the foundation but many of them may not know exactly what is tech stars and what's the advantage of you don't even know what tech stars are okay, well tell us about your tech stars experience and what made you apply.

06:02.50
Paris
Um, I don't even think would text. No.

06:13.31
wearabletakeover
To the tech stars Equitech Accelerator bring it on. You know we're real here because again we are dealing with populations and when I say populations I'm talking about you know, a lot of people say Bipac Black brown female underrepresented differently abled founders that are often excluded.

06:15.35
Paris
Do you want the real answer or the answer that won't get okay.

06:32.59
Paris
Yeah.

06:33.13
wearabletakeover
From many opportunities to advance and grow their businesses and oftentimes tech stars is a platform that helps to revolutionize or put a lot of these companies on the covers of Forbes and fortune and inc so you know what made you say I'm gonna apply.

06:51.51
Paris
Okay, so there was nothing in particular there was one person I know right? So you know Monica Wheat right yeah she was the managing director. Yeah.

06:52.42
wearabletakeover
Ah, okay, oh.

07:02.99
wearabletakeover
Um, that name sounds familiar does she come on as like one of the managers layer. Okay.

07:10.45
Paris
So and Monica Wheat is probably 1 of the most the highest ranking managing directors in textiles. Um, and so she'd been on my Facebook for for some time and I wrote this one really interesting post about why I thought Michigan.

07:14.78
wearabletakeover
Okay.

07:29.20
Paris
More specifically Detroit wasn't the best place for young black people who are trying to start companies in a creative space and because you know I'd I'd been ah, an international business consultant. So I traveled around and met all these different people and I wrote a post about it.

07:33.21
wearabletakeover
Wow.

07:47.29
Paris
And because she's from Detroit she she didn't feel the negatively about it. She just wanted to know why I felt that way. Um, and so after talking to her about all of what I've done and my other projects she took an interest in sparing. Well what would become sparen because they had a different name.

07:51.96
wearabletakeover
Oh.

08:03.28
wearabletakeover
Okay.

08:06.32
Paris
Um, and so we talked about it and she's like I might have something for you and so she pulled a you and she wouldn't tell me what it was. She just kept saying maybe maybe I have this big thing coming up I don't know yet. Um so a couple months later I see an article um because they had announced that she was gonna be.

08:15.21
wearabletakeover
Ah.

08:26.70
Paris
The managing director for the accelerator in Baltimore Once she found out. Well once she confirmed that she would be accepting the job she reached out and said I think you should apply and me being me I said absolutely not.

08:26.69
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

08:40.74
wearabletakeover
Ah, because you are one that goes against the gray.

08:44.80
Paris
Yep, and I knew that venture capital from the outside looking in. It's a space where they want you to go against the grain. You know they tell you they want the crazy founders the thinkers the people who you know question everything? um.

08:50.48
wearabletakeover
Who.

09:02.29
Paris
But after having dealt with it for some time I realized that it's not exactly the truth. Um, especially for for Pattern matching. But that came after I got into tech stars. Um, so she you know we had some more conversations and I told her no again. And then she put on her black lady hat and you don't tell black woman. No and she put her foot down and I said Okay, oh fine I'll I'll apply and so I did and I got In. Yep.

09:27.90
wearabletakeover
Another black woman saved the world shout out to Monica I so appreciate that and there's a lesson in that. So for anyone that is aspiring to develop a solution for the world via a startup. Or perhaps you are already involved in 1 or just professionally just building your career monitor what you're doing and what you're saying on social media paris used it for a greater good to get a message out and I love that I love that about you Paris. Okay, so you never know who's looking all right? So with that being said so you apply and then what happened okay.

10:03.70
Paris
Um, because you never know who's looking.

10:10.32
Paris
and and I messed it up. Um, but listen it was my first time applying I didn't know what I was doing. They basically wanted me to recreate my pitch deck in this other platform and so it was it was.

10:25.37
wearabletakeover
Okay.

10:25.69
Paris
It was a learning curve to get used to that process. Um, but she told me what went wrong and she told me that I had time to fix it and then I fixed it and when I fixed it Of course it it went through um, but in that process it It was just.

10:44.51
wearabletakeover
It was interesting. Okay, so so that it helps to have an advocate and I guess that is a kudos to Baltimore Equitech understanding that when you talk about building an equitable city or and or an equitable platform.

10:44.97
Paris
It was interesting.

10:59.51
Paris
Yes.

11:02.42
wearabletakeover
Um, it helps to have people understand the applicants and providing that guidance and nurturing them along the way I'm not sure if all of the other branded accelerators. You know, have that internal support. But I have served as a mentor throughout the process and that's how. I met you and and Paris I was you were my top choice from from looking at all the companies from day one even though you weren't literally in the wearable tech ah vacuum if you will.

11:25.30
Paris
Out of.

11:35.41
Paris
A look look look I got Apple white.

11:42.23
wearabletakeover
Ah, wearable enthusiasts. But you know there's there's a lot of stuff. We can't tell on this podcast. You know what? I mean because we talk about innovation and development and stuff that hasn't come to for wishing yet. Um, but I have no doubt that you all will see Paris. Um, and some of our other platforms and future conferences related to wearables because there's so many things that align, but but Paris as I mentioned you were my number 1 choice just from the way you presented the solution you had so tell us a little bit about sparing and tell us a little bit about. Your journey to you know to success and and what what was that success for you. Okay.

12:27.10
Paris
Well I'll let you know when I get there because I'm still drunk. Um, but just thinking back to the application. You know the the tech stars application. Um, just me being me I was going through picking apart the application process.

12:31.83
wearabletakeover
Button.

12:44.38
Paris
So I actually took apart the software and made suggestions to the company that built the software for how it could be better so I was acquiing also consulting the company at the same time so that was that was a lot of fun. Um, but thinking about that as I as I go through.

12:49.68
wearabletakeover
I Love it.

13:04.22
Paris
Different processes or different industries I apply that same that same thought process go through it understand it pick it apart figure out how to make it better so going all the way back to what I was doing when I was 11 I was just.

13:12.95
wearabletakeover
Yes.

13:22.37
Paris
Basically designing things So that's all that I've I've done my whole career is just design things. Um, but design isn't always like a thing of course this you know this really nice looking phone was designed um but design is a process and so I tell people all the time.

13:36.77
wearabletakeover
Yes.

13:42.20
Paris
You got to have an algorithm you have to live by an algorithm and an algorithm is just a set of instructions or a code you know some instruction manual. Whatever it is. You have to have 1 or else you will lose your way in whatever it is that you're doing because you'll spend more time and so um.

13:45.11
wearabletakeover
Yes, yes.

14:01.25
Paris
Getting messages on slack. Um, but as you're going through the things that you're going through. It's important to have that because it it leaves you more time to focus on what you're doing rather than how to do what you're doing.

14:12.58
wearabletakeover
And you know I'm a proponent of design thinking and I think that there's still a lot of opportunity for established companies as well as startups to employ that process and what I often find is that people fail because. They do not think about the end user or the customer first yes and it it it grinds my gears when people are saying oh we're launching this. We're launching this app and I'm like did you use any feedback you've ever collected from your customer or in user.

14:34.76
Paris
Um, they help they think about themselves and that's not all good.

14:48.90
Paris
That got me live that got me in a lot of trouble going through text hourss I did but I got to answer your first question so going back to what I was doing when I was eleven I had.

14:50.13
wearabletakeover
You Just thought it was gonna be cool. Oh tell us about that. Okay,, there's so much here I Love it. But.

15:07.12
wearabletakeover
Um, okay, but we're on this podcast. You know the where we have founders in 4 continents.

15:07.21
Paris
Basically and you can't tell anybody who's um I forgot. Okay so I mean okay I guess you can tell people? Um, but I was just taking apart computers and I was using one of those air canisters with the red holes or you know with the red.

15:25.90
wearabletakeover
Are you serious.

15:26.31
Paris
Red nozzle that you used to clean out your keyboard. Yeah and I was spraying out all the dust and so at 10 and eleven that was my version of computer repair. So I went from that to understanding what each of the the parts in the computer did.

15:36.66
wearabletakeover
Ah, it's so cute.

15:46.10
Paris
And so then I started an actual computer repair company when I was a teenager and so then I went from understanding what the different parts did to understanding how the parts worked and so then I just started taking apart the actual software and the programs that were on the computer. Um, and so then that led me into.

15:53.61
wearabletakeover
So.

16:04.81
Paris
Basically like removing viruses and helping old people with their computers and removing cookies and teaching them how to use email. So just just understanding the different parts of computers. Um, but then from there my granddad he was. He's a real estate investor. Well.

16:20.61
wearabletakeover
Okay, in Detroit right? Okay in flint.

16:23.74
Paris
He was a real estate investor. Um, so he would no this was in flint because um I was born in flint. Yeah, um, and so he would buy houses and then renovate them and then sell them or or rent them out. Um, and so he was also a computer. Programmer kind of kind of person. He basically wrote the software that the city of flint used to manage their school lunch delivery program. Oh yeah, so all the schools in Flint. They basically use his software to map out you know logistics and all that stuff. Um.

16:50.90
wearabletakeover
3 serious. It's amazing.

17:00.69
wearabletakeover
It's amazing.

17:02.79
Paris
So from watching him I decided that all right I want to figure out how to use computers. Basically how to meld or mesh computers in in properties and so he made the fatal mistake of buying one of those 3 d rendering programs.

17:17.62
wearabletakeover
A while.

17:20.33
Paris
For for it for architecture and so that was all I needed and so I basically got obsessed with it and I decided then that I wanted to own an architecture firm that designed houses and everything in them. So.

17:36.90
wearabletakeover
What what was the name of the black architect that was in California ah well the one would do you remember that movie that came out during a pandemic and Nea long was in it and it was it was an awesome movie and it almost didn't make it.

17:39.46
Paris
A V lot of them.

17:51.30
Paris
You know.

17:51.39
wearabletakeover
Um, to the big screen with but they were highlighting the black family that pave the way and in developing real estate and how they also worked with the black architect event like they ended up losing it doing a deal with somebody at a bank the Banker Thank you, Thank you? Thank you.

18:05.41
Paris
Oh the banker. Yeah I've seen that people like 10 times.

18:12.22
wearabletakeover
So It's It's like it's it's um, your your grandfather number one was ahead of his time and so that's a phenomenal story by the way I want to be a part of this documentary whenever it's done on you Seriously I think this is amazing and so to know to have that example of your grandfather making waves in. And the city using um his brain power if you will to make sure you know the the children could eat at lunch and then you are inquisitive and learning how things work which I think is a good point for our listeners. Never stop thinking. You have a brain for a.

18:41.33
Paris
We hit.

18:49.67
wearabletakeover
Reason oh my gosh people think they're thinking but they're not in in many cases they are reacting so in 2023 all of you take some time to think and you might be like Paris.

18:50.10
Paris
Yeah, no.

19:05.11
Paris
Yeah, you don't be like me ah but any so I decided that I wanted to start an architecture firm that designed houses and everything in them and so probably from maybe 1314 to nineteen I designed probably a hundred different properties and several hundred pieces of like individual or unique furniture. So no 2 pieces 1 no that that was that was the thing that got me started so.

19:30.50
wearabletakeover
And so this was using app that that program the 3 d.

19:39.31
Paris
Used that one to design the properties. But then I realized that you could like download different furniture pieces. This was back in like 2003 2002 2003 um so you could download different pieces to use in the program.

19:47.89
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

19:56.98
Paris
But I didn't like any of them So I started designing my own and figuring out how to basically import the ones that I designed into the program so that all my stuff so that I could design houses and everything in them. Um, everything everything listen I just.

19:57.17
wearabletakeover
Let's see.

20:09.69
wearabletakeover
That's genius. What did you use to develop. Wow.

20:16.48
Paris
Patched some stuff listen I did some of everything I got a bunch of free trials I got you know I listen it was just a lot. Um.

20:22.98
wearabletakeover
So so wait I have to create a visual so were you like that kid that was in your room on the computer all day and you were designing homes. You weren't necessarily playing video games but you were designing homes and Wow that's amazing.

20:35.52
Paris
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I just I couldn't I couldn't stop myself I couldn't help myself. So.

20:42.80
wearabletakeover
Okay, major interest fueled by that did you did you work with legos at all as well.

20:51.30
Paris
I Did a lot. Yeah had a lot of I mean not so much when I was a teenager um because my problem is once stuff gets easy for me I lose interest. Yep so legos they got to be too predictable. Um.

20:54.71
wearabletakeover
Martin.

21:00.80
wearabletakeover
Genius The archetype.

21:09.26
Paris
Because I got to the point where I could put them together without reading the instruction manual and so for me I'm like Well what's the point. It's It's not exciting anymore. Um, so getting back to the the point I went from designing furniture. Well designing houses.

21:11.22
wearabletakeover
Wow. Okay.

21:27.81
Paris
Designing furniture to import into the cat program that I was using to solely focusing on Cad because I'm like I really enjoy furniture design like creating things because my dad was sort of like a handyman.

21:32.61
wearabletakeover
So wow.

21:44.86
Paris
And so my granddad would buy these houses and then my dad would help him renovate them and so they would you know design cabinets and they would sketch him out and then I would take them from the sketches and design them in the program and then they would take them from the program and use them to create the actual.

22:04.25
wearabletakeover
Oh wow.

22:04.38
Paris
The actual cabinets that they would put into the houses. Um, so it was sort of like a ah whole cycle for me just learning about the different parts of design and then actually being able to design like like carpentry cabinets and tables at tables and stuff that they would make. So all of this was between like 13 and 16.

22:23.83
wearabletakeover
Oh my gosh True Genius. Okay, so you're you're impacting the family business if you will That's true. So what happened after that.

22:34.38
Paris
Trying to so after that I decided that I really really really just wanted to focus on like like furniture so chairs tables cabinets that kind of thing. Um I was obsessed with Ikea.

22:42.81
wearabletakeover
Okay.

22:49.17
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

22:52.29
Paris
And so I really liked Ikea one because it was really simple, really simple designs but then 2 the way that they were packaged. They have that they were sort of like the pioneers of what you call flatpack meaning that could basically disassemble it and put it in a small box. Um, and so.

23:01.69
wearabletakeover
So.

23:11.59
Paris
Moved around a lot when I was a kid because of my mom's job and I'm like moving furniture is always the most ridiculous process. So if you can design it better when it's being built to be able to be taken apart and quickly packed up and then reassembled it somewhere else I'm like.

23:16.59
wearabletakeover
I.

23:31.47
Paris
That's a thing so I started focusing on furniture but more so designing it in a way that it could be taken apart and put back together later and so me with my brain I'm like well why don't I just send this to the people who are already doing it. So I started researching on the internet we had dial up so I could only be on the internet for a certain. Um, yeah, they don't appreciate the internet. Yeah so I did that and I ended up getting an offer for a job.

23:48.56
wearabletakeover
With the Aol cd for all you youngins that don't know about that or don't know about touch tone phones. Yeah.

24:05.47
wearabletakeover
And how old were you sixteen.

24:06.81
Paris
And I give 16 Yeah but I didn't tell them how old I was.

24:14.67
wearabletakeover
Ah, so so you had an email address and what what did you did you contact headquarters and say I have these suggestions and are like okay we need to hire you.

24:16.93
Paris
Um, they are humble.

24:23.35
Paris
But yep I found the Ceo's email address I found his secretary's email address and then I found maybe 3 or 4 other people in the c-suite and I just started sending them stuff and maybe a week later they came back and they were really impressed by the stuff that I had designed.

24:27.50
wearabletakeover
Wow.

24:41.34
Paris
And they offered me a job so here I am you know 1516 with this this internship job offer and I'm telling my mom like I got to leave school because they want to hire me, she's like but you do realize you're 1516 right and I'm like.

24:45.50
wearabletakeover
I Love it.

24:59.54
wearabletakeover
So.

24:59.93
Paris
But what does that matter. They told me that I could come into like do you know where you have to go and I said overseas he was like absolutely not. You're no hunt.

25:05.31
wearabletakeover
Are you serious? Oh my goodness so you turn down a dream offer for internship overseas with Ikea and so there's not another lesson for all of those that are listening. This is why in our platform. We develop solutions to problems we face every day and Paris is an example of when you are someone that can come up with solutions solve problems doors will always open even in other countries. Ah.

25:41.12
Paris
I did so that didn't work out but I still you know I was still passionate about furniture design and just design in general. Um, so I went from designing furniture to just designing all sorts of random random stuff. Um. But then going back a little bit as I was coming out of middle school going into high school I had a jewelry design Company. So My cousin was a professional baseball player and so I would start designing random you know bracelets for his wife necklaces.

26:00.28
wearabletakeover
Okay.

26:13.23
wearabletakeover
So so wait a minute so you were like a Simone Smith before Simone Smith so what kind of materials were you using with this jewelry. Okay.

26:13.95
Paris
And she would of course wear them to the game and then.

26:22.61
Paris
Just this like the the beat it bracelets. Um Emstones but not, you know, not the fake stuff like the real stuff. Um I was everywhere so I really got into supply chain management because I would have orders.

26:27.98
wearabletakeover
The real gymmstones So like were you sourcing this from the Us or overseas. Okay, Wow. So.

26:41.67
Paris
Bracelets and they would be delayed because the materials were coming in from Indonesia China Nigeria and I'm like well can I just buy them straight from the factory rather than waiting for them to get.

26:45.94
wearabletakeover
Button.

26:57.29
Paris
You know, made it the mind then shipped to the other place and then shipped back and so I really got into supply chain management. You know in late middle school early high school So all that stuff came in handy later on and I'll tell you why? Um so going through middle school and high school.

27:04.50
wearabletakeover
Is amazing.

27:15.81
Paris
Course I was just focused on design and creating things. But at the end of high school I'd have this massive portfolio of designs So architecture furniture random car parts because I was I would literally just sit there and just design.

27:33.30
wearabletakeover
Wow.

27:34.70
Paris
Anything that was in front of me and so going into college I had moved back to flint because there is a school there that had an accelerated engineering program. It was not community college and so I started at the college for creative studies which is in Detroit which is.

27:42.76
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

27:52.84
Paris
Very large private art school. Um, but they focus on like industrial design product design fine arts that kind of thing. Um, so I started there but they were $980 a credit hour and I'm like listen this is way too much so transfer from there to flint.

28:06.13
wearabletakeover
Mr. Ensign

28:12.46
Paris
And I got to flint and ended up becoming the the teacher's assistant basically um and so of course I was showing my my design teacher my design portfolio and unbeknownst to me he was sending that portfolio out to people.

28:21.43
wearabletakeover
Wow. Really? yes.

28:29.43
Paris
So I'm sitting. Yeah I'm sitting in class one day and I get a call and I asked the teacher I said hey can I go out in the hall and and take you know take the call and he said sure go ahead. So I get out there and I answer the phone and you ready so it was.

28:42.11
wearabletakeover
Who was it.

28:48.14
Paris
Basically they said this is so and so from general motors human resources department. We got your portfolio from a trusted source. We would like to know how much well first of all, are you looking for employment and how much do you want us to pay you to come work for us. Oh mind you.

29:00.93
wearabletakeover
How much Wow so name your offer I Love it.

29:07.44
Paris
I was like 19 at the time. So I told him because I had never had a job before so I told him I'm like all eight eight dollars an hour. She laughed at me. She had that same taste. She said no Mr. d that's not enough and I'm like wow.

29:12.61
wearabletakeover
It it.

29:27.80
Paris
$8 is my highest offer and I said all right? Let me act to do that and I said 10 and she laughed at me again and she was like definitely not. Oh yeah, she said so what we'll do is we'll start you out at 15 full benefits.

29:36.77
wearabletakeover
You needed a ah lesson for Bosoma St John so.

29:46.88
Paris
All the perks and whatnot. But you have to move it back to Detroit and I'm like well my mom lives there so I can be there like in two days and so she said no, you gotta go through orientation so long story short. That's how I got to become the youngest black design engineer.

30:04.26
wearabletakeover
Wow. Okay, so a phenomenal story again. You need a documentary I totally believe in that I want to be 1 of the executive producers on it. But while you were.

30:04.60
Paris
Ah, cadillac.

30:19.51
wearabletakeover
Designing these homes and furniture so age 11 moving on. Did you ever go to any supplemental like summer camps or summer instruction or was this totally just you and you know your dad your grandfather. Yes.

30:35.66
Paris
It was me I was and I tell everybody like I don't even have a college degree today. Um, because of literally everything that I know I taught myself because I learn at a much faster pace and.

30:44.72
wearabletakeover
And.

30:52.60
Paris
Whereas it might take so speaking about the the Cad program in high school what I didn't tell you is that I ended up becoming the cad teacher in high school.

31:02.50
wearabletakeover
Wait a minute So what the teacher was sick one day you just took over. Okay.

31:05.34
Paris
So the teacher got fired and they couldn't find anybody who knew the software better than me and so I'd had a relationship with the dean of students and so his name was Mr Hawthorne and his daughter. Her name was.

31:16.66
wearabletakeover
Okay.

31:24.71
Paris
Miss Hawthorne and so she was teaching a computer class and the class might have been an hour long but I'd finished my work in probably the first 10 or 15 minutes and so what I started doing was bringing my own design program from home and I hacked.

31:31.91
wearabletakeover
Wow.

31:41.78
Paris
Through the school's firewalls and I installed it on the computer and so in the gap between me finishing my work and the end of class I would just be sitting there designing you know stuff in school and she had an issue with that for whatever reason. Um, and yeah and so I would.

31:53.97
wearabletakeover
Oh really, she had an issue. Yeah, you know, hacking through the farmble.

32:00.82
Paris
I'm her lapse because she would take lapse around the the class just to make sure everybody was doing what they were supposed to be doing and I gotten so into this I gotten so into this one particular design one day and she got behind me and I didn't know it and my fake friends I thought they were my friends.

32:19.40
wearabletakeover
You learned about that early.

32:20.46
Paris
Didn't tell me that she was coming. Yeah so I'm sitting there and she's watching me design stuff and rather than being excited that I'm designing stuff. She gets upset and she sends me to her dad and so she thought I was gonna get in trouble and.

32:34.30
wearabletakeover
A while. Still.

32:38.90
Paris
Basically he was like you got 2 options. You can either get suspended or you can help me figure out how to make more of you.

32:46.23
wearabletakeover
Ah, smart man smart man I I think that's a lesson for all educators when you have an outlier in the best way possible such as the example of Paris.

32:46.68
Paris
Um, yeah, so.

32:58.70
wearabletakeover
But that talent in use and encourage that talent motivate that talent versus reprimand in them.

33:05.30
Paris
Yep, so he said but I'm only gonna give you one option because clearly you you've got too much talent you figured out how to hack through the school's Firewall. You installed your own software and then you're really good at the stuff that you're desiding. So. It's like that's too much. To just be upset at but you gotta work it off and so rather than suspending me or giving me detention. He said I'm gonna you get to drop that class because clearly it's no good for you and so now we're gonna challenge you and so he put me I was a freshman at the time.

33:24.61
wearabletakeover
Wow.

33:35.60
wearabletakeover
Wow.

33:41.95
Paris
Freshman sophomore. But he put me in the senior level computer aided design class and so they had like a maybe a 500 page workbook that was supposed to take the whole semester I did it in like five weeks

33:54.72
wearabletakeover
Five weeks so were you working on it like day and night. Yeah.

34:02.53
Paris
It was my thing I was having fun. Um, so I ended up finishing all this stuff and then the teacher in the class made me his teacher's assistant so I was in like the tenth grade helping seniors understand like how to use the Cad program and so um. From there. You know that that happened again in college with the whole you know me becoming a teacher's assistant thing. Um, so that that played a big role and of course me building up my portfolio understanding all the parts of Cad and then getting the job at you.

34:37.20
wearabletakeover
Wow. Okay, get okay so another another gig So your talent will make room for you if you use it if you put it to work and if you figure out how to solve problems or create some. Ah.

34:38.19
Paris
I Left that part out.

34:54.87
wearabletakeover
Creek making good trouble right? Wow Paris. Okay so Steve Jobs had nothing on you nothing on you um, being in the midwest. Okay so becoming the teacher assistant.

34:57.34
Paris
Get trouble.

35:05.50
Paris
No pretty much.

35:13.91
wearabletakeover
Making your own way through school becoming the teacher. Okay, so let's talk about this exit because oftentimes when I'm talking to founders and I talk with and I coach not only wearable tech founders but also other founders but about seventy to eighty percent of my time is in a workable tech category.

35:19.78
Paris
Both.

35:32.80
wearabletakeover
Oftentimes We ask them at the very beginning about the end are they looking at the end. How do they want to get out of this business or or what do they want to do? um so tell us about that exit. What was the process and a lot of people talk about exits and they talk about the number.

35:49.22
Paris
And have.

35:51.79
wearabletakeover
But I really want to know like what were you feeling during that process.

35:55.14
Paris
I was excited because I had created this thing that solved a particular problem for me. So if you haven't noticed like throughout my the pattern throughout my entire career I Guess whatever you want to call it is that I don't have any patience.

36:13.80
wearabletakeover
Okay.

36:14.30
Paris
I don't like waiting for things I was you know, starting businesses at 11 I was designing cars at 1920 so I'm like I don't believe in waiting for things and the number 1 thing and that drives me crazy even to this day.

36:30.77
wearabletakeover
Okay.

36:31.79
Paris
Is waiting for other people as I move really really quickly and if I get to a point where I'm ready to do something and I can't do it because there's someone else slowing down in front of me. It drives me crazy. So I've started creating systems.

36:43.21
wearabletakeover
Wow.

36:49.70
Paris
That remove the other people so I can do what I want myself.

36:49.15
wearabletakeover
Wait a minute this this is this is legendary and for a lot of business owners whether you're a startup or business owner or whatnot when we talk about the challenge with hiring or finding talent. Think you might want to you know contact Paris as a consultant if he has time help you overcome those challenges right.

37:06.41
Paris
Listen.

37:13.36
wearabletakeover
And no go ahead I Want to hear about this.

37:14.14
Paris
So oh go ahead? Oh so if you think about that the number one? Well, it's 2 places where you have to deal with other people or wait for other people. Um, one of them is driving is you know you got traffic.

37:30.73
wearabletakeover
Um, okay, explain a little bit more.

37:31.95
Paris
And the other one is shopping.

37:36.55
Paris
So for me as you can probably tell I'm sort of organized I go into a store I have my list I only want to get you know, maybe 5 or 6 things enough for maybe a day or 2 and then I go home. So I'm I'm the king of the express checkout lane at the time the self the the self checkout lane express checkout lane didn't really exist so you go to I don't know her I like me.

37:54.67
wearabletakeover
Okay.

38:03.70
wearabletakeover
Okay, were you are you? The reason we have that today I was going to say you you might be did you write someone.

38:13.49
Paris
I like I don't know um, but you so I'm sure you've been into a Walmart or a publix or whatever big box grocery store. They have um and you know how they have 15 or 20 checkout lanes.

38:22.17
wearabletakeover
Yes. Yes, yes, if that.

38:30.14
Paris
Only like 3 of them will be open if that. So now that you know my my shopping pattern I go into the store I get my stuff I'm ready to check out but I couldn't check out as fast as I wanted to because there was somebody in front of me and so this person would have.

38:43.91
wearabletakeover
Is he.

38:48.37
Paris
50 you know fifty to a hundred different things in their grocery cart. Um I'm probably going to get in trouble for this but I call this person you got to have a buyer persona you have to understand your customer and so I've created this customer persona for this specific customer and her name is Susie Homemaker

38:57.79
wearabletakeover
Okay.

39:06.84
wearabletakeover
Tell us about Susie.

39:09.00
Paris
And so sweet. Oh Susie Homemaker is a stay at home mom with two point three kids she goes grocery shopping once a month and because she goes grocery shopping once a month she's got to get everything that she's gonna need for the month in 1 trip, you do not want to get stuck behind Susie Homemaker if you're me.

39:25.35
wearabletakeover
Yes, yes.

39:28.50
Paris
So what I did I'm standing there in line like fuming steam coming out of my ears. My hair is melting and I'm looking at my phone and I'm looking at my cart you know the little handheld basket and I'm looking back and forth and then you know the little light book came out and it's like.

39:47.46
wearabletakeover
M.

39:47.85
Paris
Why can't I just pay for stuff from my phone so I ended up creating an app where you can scan things from your phone and pay for them and then it generates the same receipt that that you get from from the cashier listen.

39:59.16
wearabletakeover
Is that did you sell it to giant are you allowed to tell it and oh Wow this is so exciting. So you're the one I.

40:06.55
Paris
Somebody's got it.

40:11.80
Paris
Um, but there's only one there's only one ten fortune 1 fortune 10 grocery store out there.

40:20.57
wearabletakeover
That's amazing I didn't know that I just I was today years old when I learned that folks and and he's so amazing. Paris is so amazing. There's so much she's done that is wow.

40:23.89
Paris
The.

40:29.27
Paris
Then they bought it and screwed it up. So now I still have to wait in line.

40:35.23
wearabletakeover
Ah, so okay, there's there's a couple of lessons there number 1 buyer persona so understand.

40:41.67
Paris
Yeah I understand the problem how many people that problem impacts how much money they you know they spend trying to solve that problem who the other competitors out there are that are trying to solve that problem all the fundamentals as they call them.

40:57.35
wearabletakeover
So so you know I gotta ask a question Perris because you had an innovative idea and sometimes especially in today's climate some of our innovators might be afraid to approach that big box store and share their idea for fear that they might steal it.

41:13.41
Paris
Um, no.

41:15.29
wearabletakeover
So how did you overcome that to to the point where you were able to sell your app.

41:21.64
Paris
Because I was more excited about the solution than I was and plus it was just me being completely naive to the fact that people stole things. Um, so I just you know dove into home plate head first.

41:22.77
wearabletakeover
So.

41:28.88
wearabletakeover
Okay.

41:38.67
Paris
So I wasn't really thinking about that. Um and it ended up happening. They liked it. It took them a while to get back to me because of course big corporations. Um, but yeah, they they liked it and it was 1 of 3 things that I was working on.

41:43.64
wearabletakeover
Wow! what.

41:57.53
wearabletakeover
Okay I love it all right? So you knew you had a solution you were passionate about what you were doing. So even if something negative happened you you figured you would have won because you would get out of that checkout line away from Susie Homemaker

41:57.77
Paris
At the time.

42:06.32
Paris
Physical better still hate Wisdom Check life.

42:15.28
Paris
Ah, yeah, because du like I said that that wasn't the only thing that I was working on and me being ah a little less humble than I should be like I Forget better stuff than most people think of.

42:19.16
wearabletakeover
Yes.

42:30.24
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

42:33.59
Paris
And so I'm like if if I lose it. It's just one you know it wasn't It wasn't like the biggest thing in the world for me. It was just a solution to a problem.

42:45.75
wearabletakeover
So see folks. This is why you need to attend our hackathon platforms and if you don't know what that is make sure you listen to that other episode here on wearable Takeover where we explain that um because we do provide skilletss so that you can develop mobile apps and develop other. Ah.

43:03.48
wearabletakeover
Technical pieces and and and obtain technical skill Sets. You have a living breathing example on this episode that has done so many amazing things and the great thing is that our minds are not limited if we don't limit it right? We have. So much potential if we just allow ourselves to look at the world around us identify problems come up with solutions and make it happen so that was your exit so you just so you just sold it or did you license it.

43:33.16
Paris
Yep, that's what happened. But that was it that was that was the end of the road for that thing because remember once stuff starts to get get easy for me I lose interest in it and so because I was juggling 3 things at the time I was excited to have the extra money from that thing to work on my other things. Um, so I got rid of that thing and started working on the sister side for it. Um, and so the sister side for it was the exact same process except in restaurants. So You know you order your food.

44:01.78
wearabletakeover
So ok.

44:07.90
wearabletakeover
Okay, okay.

44:14.40
Paris
Gotta wait for the waitress to come and take your order or the waiter and then they go to the kitchen and then they give the little scribbled note thing to the kitchen and then somebody in the kitchen takes it and then they gotta cook it and then they got to send it out. It might be something wrong with it. So I just cut out.

44:19.83
wearabletakeover
M.

44:31.75
Paris
I Started designing a whole process that cut out everybody and I'm like I'll just order it from my phone I'll run the little code on the menu and so that was my other thing so I used to go to a lot of restaurants because I was a consultant all I did was meet people at restaurants and.

44:35.85
wearabletakeover
Yes, yes, yes.

44:45.80
wearabletakeover
Yes.

44:50.95
Paris
I'm a pretty simple guy I like chicken nuggets and french ries and lemonade and so there is a lot of different things items on the menu and restaurants don't have pictures on the menu and so I'm looking at my phone and I'm looking at the menu. And I'm looking back and forth and I'm like wouldn't it be great if I could take a picture of the menu and then it shows me pictures of the things on the menu and I'm like why do I gotta wait for somebody else to do it I just do it myself. So I started creating that version of the app where we put a little qr code next to each item. On the menu and you take a picture and it pulls up an individual webpage of the item or the the dish and it gives you pictures. It gives you reviews it gives you chef notes you know, basically a platform where the restaurant can show you or communicate what this thing is and. That's when I started doing consulting for my first. My first big client. So my first big client was the weston book cadillac hotel in Detroit and so um I was working with them on the whole development but there was a restaurant on the ground floor.

45:54.50
wearabletakeover
Wow.

46:05.68
Paris
And so I started working with the owner of that restaurant and he basically gave me the restaurant and said do what you want with it and so I used his restaurant as sort of like a pilot to start developing that app.

46:19.70
wearabletakeover
And did you sell that app or are you.

46:22.11
Paris
No I got bored with it because so that was like the very first thing that I did as a consultant and from there it sort of did the hockey stick that they always talk about and I started getting more exposure to different people and this was a. $200000000 development not the app but this hotel so I basically had carte blanche for the hotel and I could do anything that I wanted to do so because that was Detroit's only first and only five star hotel american idol was a big thing.

46:56.74
wearabletakeover
Yes, yes.

46:58.61
Paris
At the time and so american idol came to Detroit I did not go on american idol but I got to hang out with all the judges and Jennifer Lopez was there in Keith Urban and so all the celebrities and anytime there was a concert in Detroit all the artists and celebrities and just whoever I met Michael Bolton

47:17.12
wearabletakeover
Oh my gosh. Yes.

47:18.36
Paris
Had Macaroni with Michael Bolton so I don't want to say I lost interest in it but there were much bigger fish in the ocean for me than just focusing on this One thing. Um, so I just started doing lots of other things and meeting new people and more clients and.

47:26.79
wearabletakeover
Okay.

47:36.32
Paris
1 thing led to the other led to the other and I started getting more clients in other states and other countries. Um I got a few billionaires as clients and I met the director of the Fbi it was. It was a lot had a lot of fun.

47:49.27
wearabletakeover
This is amazing. So per I I know we got to talk about sparing and some other fundrais tips for founders. But I think we need to even have you come back for an episode for our founders that are developing multiple streams of income and and talk about how to leverage their expertise as consultants and what that process is.

47:56.43
Paris
5

48:07.35
Paris
Oh don't get me started on that because I might hurt somebody's feelings.

48:08.29
wearabletakeover
Ah, ah well I think that's important but we definitely have to come back to that. Um, again, you you need a documentary so you've had all these different lives and ways that you've impacted cities, billionaires etc and then.

48:28.38
wearabletakeover
You funneled some of that that funding into sparen is that how that worked okay.

48:34.33
Paris
No, um, well yes, and no, um so all the way up until sparing I never raised any money. It was all me as they call it bootstrapping. Um I mean I would take money from clients and.

48:40.40
wearabletakeover
Okay, okay.

48:51.39
Paris
You know they would basically tip me more money so that I could have money to put into my thing. Um, but outside of that like I'd never I never raised any money and so getting to sparin at the end of my consulting career I was managing lots and lots of real estate. Um.

49:07.30
wearabletakeover
Okay.

49:11.23
Paris
2 of the clients that I met while of course at at the Weston in Detroit. Um, there were 2 black guys and they owned very sizable real estate portfolios and so I was basically bouncing back and forth between the two of them because one of them. He is an old guy. He was the the former tax assessor for the city of Detroit so he would just buy up hundreds of properties. You know hundreds of vacant lots when they would come up for auction. Um, but he would buy them in his name and so I would help I was going through the process of helping him move them from his name.

49:36.97
wearabletakeover
I.

49:48.37
wearabletakeover
Yes.

49:49.82
Paris
Into different lllss under under a holding company because the problem was he was getting pummeed like dozens of phone calls every day from people wanting to buy his lots and they would come by his house and his restaurant and I'm like buy. Why did you put them in your name. So I part. Yeah.

50:08.30
wearabletakeover
Ah, so rule one. Oh one folks if you're buying real estate additional properties. Make sure you form an L lc and it could be the address of that property and you could call that.

50:18.76
Paris
But different L O seeds one property per loc because if you get sued or if somebody slips on the sidewalk and they sue you worst case scenario you lose that property not all the ones in that lloc. But that's.

50:31.79
wearabletakeover
Good. Good note So one property per L I'll see Okay, great.

50:35.28
Paris
Not a tax professional I can't tell you what to do.

50:41.61
Paris
Yep, so just helping them move their properties around I would help them basically package these these properties and I found out later that the technical term or the title for that position was an asset manager.

50:47.25
wearabletakeover
So.

50:54.44
wearabletakeover
So okay.

50:57.65
Paris
And so I would identify properties within the portfolio that were underperforming identify properties outside of the portfolio that we could sell or swap. There's a lot of land swapping going on. Um, and so all of that was at Twenty seven and Twenty Eight and so I got to the point where.

51:04.91
wearabletakeover
So.

51:16.64
Paris
I'm I started to get really good with the nuances of transactions and I'm like there's got to be a better way to do this and I couldn't find one so I created one but.

51:18.61
wearabletakeover
So.

51:27.55
wearabletakeover
So and and hence the platform sparing right? Okay and so tell folks what is sparing can they access it can they use it now. What's going on.

51:34.33
Paris
That's where sparing came from.

51:41.50
Paris
So sparing you ready for this? Well you you told them when you gave them my introduction I thought you were talking about? Oh got it so long Story short Sparen is a person to person real estate marketplace.

51:46.43
wearabletakeover
Well I mean you know we've been talking they they came through your whole life so they might need a reminder.

51:59.27
Paris
That uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to digitize and automate real estate transactions. So simplest 1 line. It's Amazon for real estate.

52:08.48
wearabletakeover
So it's so for real estate agents should they be worried.

52:17.38
Paris
Um, see what had happened was they should have been but I figured out how to incorporate real estate agents only because they're training my artificial intelligence for me. So.

52:29.95
wearabletakeover
Okay.

52:34.67
Paris
You know they're training the Ai and the ml and so they're actually helping me out a lot. So yeah.

52:37.56
wearabletakeover
So folks don't fight tech work with tech. So you know that's that's a good thing when you have and let me just call out here when you have a black founder black founders tend to operate differently, especially those that just have a a real conscious. We know that we're going to develop something for the greater good and although we know what is happening in the innovation ecosystem where the jobs we see today will not be the jobs that we see tomorrow or you know the year after that, but prepare us to incorporate the professionals into this process.

53:09.69
Paris
A.

53:16.18
wearabletakeover
Um, this says a lot that says a lot not only from your advantage of gaining data but also making sure that when they're aware that they know what's happening and inviting them into the space which is important so folks if you say oh I don't do tech I don't real I don't do anything with tech you do every single day. So.

53:26.22
Paris
Um, got it.

53:34.69
wearabletakeover
You need to adopt it and learn it. That's just the end. All be all.

53:40.30
Paris
Yep, so that's that's what sparen is um I built it out I built out the first or as they call it the Mvp which it's minimum viable product for people who don't know but that means it's not most valuable player. It's more than.

53:46.28
wearabletakeover
Certain.

53:52.11
wearabletakeover
The.

53:55.90
Paris
Person on the team because you know black founders. They're like I'm the only person it's got to be me and like listen you're not the Mvp the product. The company is the most valuable or the customer is the most valuable player. They're the most important person. So.

53:58.88
wearabletakeover
Um, ah.

54:12.52
Paris
To that point in circling back to what we talked about earlier about the customer personas and tying everything together I built out the Mvp because I was the customer and I figured if I'm moving millions of dollars in real estate. There has got to be other people so I created it.

54:14.20
wearabletakeover
And.

54:20.20
wearabletakeover
Susan.

54:27.61
wearabletakeover
Yes.

54:32.47
Paris
Went out I did the research interview lots of customers talk to lots of people started you know testing it out with them and seventy two roughly ninety days later we had 112000000 in saless.

54:46.41
wearabletakeover
How much and how many days seventy two days how many how many sales.

54:49.50
Paris
Hundred and twelve million because you know it's real 72 less than 9100 and $12000000 that's gmv so you measure the productivity. Or the effectiveness of a marketplace or marketplace businesses and what's called gmv which is gross merchandise volume and so if you dig through that it was just 362 transactions or 362 people.

55:22.14
wearabletakeover
Wow! So how did you know who to go to and I think this is important for founders I'm asking this not only because your story is interesting but founders as we navigate this next realm of of life where the economy is changing. Where some investors may be pulling it back and waiting on you to fail so that they could buy you at a cheaper price. How did you identify your customer and apparently that was ah a major key to your success in that seventy two days

55:50.24
Paris
Yeah, because like I told you I was the customer. So I knew where we hung out at and a big portion of the reason why I created this program was because real estate agents would get in the way they're just an attic Well don't I Want to say an at it cost. But for the seller.

55:53.52
wearabletakeover
Okay.

56:01.84
wearabletakeover
And.

56:09.56
Paris
Seller pays the 6% so if you sell your property for $1000000 60000 as $60000 it's it's a lot of money that's a car that's a down payment on another house. That's a couple pairs of shoes I don't know what kind of shoes you wear, but it's a lot.

56:18.72
wearabletakeover
Mm.

56:29.29
Paris
So understanding that I'm like how do I get to the customer. How do I get to people who are buying and selling these properties without needing an agent. So then I started to understand the MOs and you know you agents have to pay to access the mls and the mls is nothing but a big giant Excel spreadsheet.

56:31.88
wearabletakeover
And.

56:48.67
Paris
That's connected to a map and I'm like huh. There's got to be another place where people who aren't because you you can't get your property on the mls if you don't work with an agent. So I realized that these people who don't use agents.

56:56.47
wearabletakeover
Yes.

57:07.63
Paris
They're not on the MOs which means they've got to go somewhere else and so I just found that somewhere else and that somewhere else at the time was Facebook craigslist newspaper ads and these these people are called ah, they're categorized as fisbos for sale by owner.

57:26.62
Paris
So I just went to the source and wrote up a little blurb with a link to my Mvp and I just copied and paste it over and over and over again and I sent it to them and that's how I got to all those hills.

57:42.59
wearabletakeover
That's amazing. So what's in the future for sparing.

57:47.54
Paris
But oh boy, um so right now we've got like $2000000000 in our transaction pipeline. So going back.

57:51.81
wearabletakeover
Wait say it again. Say it again for him King B out here right? is that what you said I Love it.

58:00.73
Paris
Yeah, 2000000000 yep so going back. That's not the amount of money that we make because our revenue is essentially between point seven five and 1.5 of the total transaction volume. Um.

58:06.14
wearabletakeover
Right.

58:18.70
Paris
So if you just will just round it up and say just 1% of $2000000000 that's the amount of money that we stand to make from from these transactions. Um, that's called a take rate a take rate because it's the amount that you take from the transaction. Um.

58:35.97
wearabletakeover
Can you imagine people trying to figure that out with this new math. Sorry ah.

58:37.80
Paris
So we've got pay That's why I simplify it so we've got roughly $2000000000 in our transaction pipeline. We were working on partnerships with the department of defense. We just signed a partnership with the largest Keller this. Largest Keller Williams brokerage on the East Coast so now we've got approximately 575 agents that'll be doing stuff in the platform for us which means we don't have to go out and work for it. We just take a small percentage of whatever whatever they get.

59:02.64
wearabletakeover
I Love it. So.

59:08.80
wearabletakeover
Yes.

59:14.80
Paris
So it's more money for us. Um, we've got distribution in. We've got supply in roughly nine states. We're getting ready for our big launch coming up in Mid -january early february basically first quarter next year. Um. And we're raising money.

59:35.63
wearabletakeover
And you're raising money I Love it I Love it all right? Um, and so if folks are interested in your platform or want to talk to you? How can they reach you.

59:50.66
Paris
I would not advise talking to me. Um, because I'm not a talk to a person I'm just playing Um, but no I they can go to the sparen website. So okay, so here's the fun thing I bought a really interesting domain you ready. It's sparen.

01:00:02.95
wearabletakeover
What is it.

01:00:08.30
Paris
Dot homes. That's it yeah or sparenhomes dot com. Um, but there Iss a sign up page there now because it's a lot of stuff going on behind the curtain. Um, so we're doing our our second beta we're.

01:00:09.88
wearabletakeover
Sparen dot homes I Love it.

01:00:18.64
wearabletakeover
This is.

01:00:26.64
Paris
Onboarding clients and building out more pages. So the house is being built while people are moving in but I gotta for you I got to tell you why I got in trouble going through text Hourss Yeah I tell you? yeah so I got in trouble.

01:00:29.83
wearabletakeover
I Love it all right? so. Oh okay, yes, yes, tell us this because it's getting back to the founder and going through the whole process.

01:00:45.54
Paris
Going through Textys and this is one of the reasons why this is the cherry on the top. Um, so my slogan for my mantra going through Textys was trust over traction and that breaks the entire venture capital model.

01:00:47.87
wearabletakeover
Okay.

01:00:59.00
wearabletakeover
Mm.

01:01:04.77
Paris
Because they were telling me you need to go out and get customers. You need to go out and force people through your platform and I'm like but these people my customers are spending 2 3 four hundred half a million dollars in 1 transaction.

01:01:20.40
wearabletakeover
M.

01:01:23.81
Paris
This is the most emotional and the largest purchase of the average person's lifetime. They do not rush to make this decision if they're going to use the platform they need to be able to know that they can trust it and so we basically spent a year

01:01:29.39
wearabletakeover
This is.

01:01:43.45
Paris
Gaining people's trust and so we started converting that trust into traction and now we've got that's where the $2000000000 and transactions came from from building that the relationship that trust with with our market our customers.

01:01:58.19
wearabletakeover
Go with your gut relationships are everything and that's one of the areas that Paris and I bonded um, you know as far as developing relationships doing things that works for you versus what has worked previously for masses especially masses that don't look like us right.

01:02:15.23
Paris
Yeah, the whole pattern netting thing Pattern matching.

01:02:16.29
wearabletakeover
Experiences are different. What was that yes I'm so proud of you I say this all the time not that he needs me to say it. But I am incredibly proud of you. Your example your model. Um. Your mindset and making sure that everyone's included and then also your heart to give back to the community because that's important and that's one of the things that we value here within the ecosystem and we tell our founders. You don't just take this is a cycle where. We are investing and everyone in this ecosystem. So Perris before we go because we're gonna have to come back and I just love talking to you. This is absolutely amazing. Founders are going to be faced with some different type of circumstances.

01:03:13.68
Paris
Post.

01:03:14.80
wearabletakeover
I don't know if it's going to be like you know the pandemic I'm just going to say different types of circumstances and you were on the tailin or in the middle of the pandemic going through tech stars right? So you boughtked you sold. You've been incredibly successful. Not just 1 time but multiple times in your career. What advice can you give to founders as they face this unknown.

01:03:44.74
Paris
It's gonna be hard. Um, because even with all the success that I've had and all the stuff that I've know and all the stuff that I've done I Still get beat up. Not beat up but they give me a hard time. They give me a harder time because.

01:03:52.73
wearabletakeover
M.

01:04:01.70
Paris
Referring back to pattern matching I don't look like the pattern I don't look like the successful pattern that you see in venture capital I don't look like Evan Spiegel I don't look like Mark Zuckerberg I don't look like Elon Musk I'm not a young white guy. And so no matter what I tell these people no matter what I show them. They still give me a hard time like I had one person say did you really come up with this who do you work for? Yeah yep, so it's important to have.

01:04:22.93
wearabletakeover
Oh really? Yes, wow.

01:04:33.88
Paris
You know to know all the Kpis and to know your numbers in and out you got to have your business model. You have to know your numbers if you don't know your numbers and you don't need to have a story to go with your numbers. You need to have your numbers first and then the story later. Because you only have maybe twenty thirty minutes with these people before they're on to the next founder and they're on to the next idea so you gotta know your numbers and you have to be able to present them in such a way that holds their attention and makes them think about you in the next meeting and the meeting after that. Because if not you'll just be 1 of 1 of many.

01:05:15.97
wearabletakeover
Just one of many and we need you to stand out like Paris stood out for me during that first I'll stop. We were virtual on Zoom ah, ah and I think you I recall you had on was it like a t-shirt.

01:05:20.52
Paris
Um, I because I'm tall. Yeah.

01:05:33.65
wearabletakeover
But like a mock suit see see folks. That's how he stood out I remember that and it's been over a year. So.

01:05:34.38
Paris
It was was this in the front party in the back. It was like a mullet but I had on a black hoodie with a print of a shirt and tie on it.

01:05:45.93
wearabletakeover
Look see folks. He stood out. He stood out and he did not present like everybody else, but he was he was quiet. He was confident. He had a quirky sense of humor as he was delivering and I was like he knows his stuff.

01:05:57.27
Paris
Um, even to this day I don't I refuse to.

01:06:05.40
wearabletakeover
And some people were turned off because of it but I was like Gung-ho like.

01:06:09.12
Paris
Um, those those people are miserable now because they've made both length and those investments have failed and they're looking at me like hey kid what you doing and I'm like minding my business.

01:06:20.92
wearabletakeover
I'm so excited for you paris oh my gosh. So I have to ask this and I know we folks I hope you've been enjoying this I just love talking to Paris I could go on and on and on and on. But we're gonna have him come back for another episode and hopefully we can have him in person as well. For our youth because we will be in person this this summer we would love to have you Paris.

01:06:41.31
Paris
Oh yeah, definitely I do mentoring. That's my my thing I just picked up a new kid yesterday where he picked me up. Um as ah, kids find in they're like you're coming with me and I'm like but where are we going.

01:06:45.91
wearabletakeover
I.

01:06:54.10
wearabletakeover
I love it. So what? Well okay, so parents we're excited to have you work with us this summer but ultimately what do you want your legacy to be so.

01:07:05.30
Paris
Ah I don't I don't really want one? um I would like to leave the world A much better place than I found it. Um is I mean somebody's got to live here after me so you know.

01:07:06.12
wearabletakeover
Okay, so.

01:07:21.20
Paris
You got people coming over. You don't want them to see a dirty howls I learned that from my grandma so I always try to leave things better than when I found them.

01:07:25.29
wearabletakeover
So yes, so.

01:07:31.56
wearabletakeover
Yes, absolutely and that is not only things but people situations Harris it is indeed an honor. We're going to schedule you again. Um, and maybe we'll do a far side chat with our founders and then publish it later you know for the podcast platform. But again tell folks where can they find sparing and or you if you want them to find you.

01:07:55.18
Paris
They can find me on Linkedin. It's just my name Paris like the city dean as in Jimmy Dean Sausage guy because it's funny because I have an uncle named Jimmy or. That's how I have to tell people they do not forget me.

01:08:14.78
wearabletakeover
Oh my gosh. Okay, we'll ask about that family lineage later but ah so Linkedin and then again the website.

01:08:23.41
Paris
Ah, sparen dot homes or if if you're more traditional sparenhomes dot Com have to get both of them.

01:08:28.34
wearabletakeover
I love it and folks you will be reading about this this genius for years to come. Thank you so much Paris we appreciate you and folks we're just is season 2 off to a fier restart.

01:08:37.49
Paris
Um, I'll just be fixed and stuff.

01:08:43.64
wearabletakeover
Make sure you listen to the announcements as we close out and we'll see you for the next episode.

01:08:47.20
Paris
Um, a.