AZ Tech Roundtable 2.0

Is the Cannabis Industry Maturing? – Best of Cannabis 2022

- BRT S03 EP59 (158) 11-27-2022

 

Clips from BRT shows talking about the Cannabis Industry in 2022

BRT Revisits some Cannabis topics and shows from 2022, including investing, supplies, packaging, supply chain, zoning, real estate, trade associations, tech, data, Canadian Securities, AZ legalization, M&A, dispensaries, and more…

 

 

Seg. 1

BRT Flashback Clip:

Cannabis Sales Secret Weapon - Pistil Data = Cannabis Tech w/ Jeff Graham

- BRT S03 EP34 (133) 7-24-2022

 

 

Guest: Jeffrey Graham - Founder-CEO Pistil Data

https://www.pistildata.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreygraham1

https://twitter.com/jeffrigram

 

The Pistil Data Platform

Give your sales team a secret weapon. Pistil makes it easy for cannabis sales teams to prospect, upsell, and grow sales.

Pistil gathers a vast amount of cannabis data across the cannabis industry with the goal of enabling cannabis businesses to make better business decisions. The company has built technology to make sense of the data, which is complicated and messy in the cannabis industry, according to Graham.

Pistil has developed applications for brands to provide information that can be leveraged by sales teams. Salespeople can use mobile applications to identify business opportunities, such as stores that don’t carry their products, stores that are ready for reorders and new stores opening. Pistil helps salespeople use data to make it easier to sell cannabis into retail stores, & target competition.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

BRT Flashback Clip:

From Seed to Success in Cannabis Cultivation w/ Ryan Douglas

- BRT S03 EP19 (118) 5-8-2022

 

Guest: Ryan Douglas, Douglas Cultivation

https://douglascultivation.com/

https://douglascultivation.com/services

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ryan+douglas+cannabis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryandouglascultivation/

 

THE RYAN DOUGLAS DIFFERENCE Unprecedented Credentials in the Industry

As Master Grower from 2013 to 2016, I directed cultivation for Tweed Inc., one of Canada’s largest producers of cannabis and the flagship subsidiary of Canopy Growth Corporation. As one of the company’s first employees, I helped drive the organization’s early success by designing the production facility, selecting the genetics, and hiring and training staff to produce 70,000 plants and process 6 tons of dry cannabis annually. 

My work at Tweed has been featured in Vice, New York Times, Bloomberg News, and on National Public Radio. 

Deep Roots in Horticulture - Before entering the cannabis industry, I spent 15 years as a commercial greenhouse grower of ornamental and edible crops. As Head Grower for a commercial greenhouse near Boston, I developed and executed a production plan for raising 600,000 plants annually.

These experiences, along with consulting projects across the globe, have provided me with a rich toolkit of best practices for helping clients launch and expand their commercial grow operations

Book: From Seed to Success – How to launch a Great Cannabis Cultivation Business in Record Time

https://douglascultivation.com/seed-to-success

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

 

Seg. 2

BRT Flashback Clip:

Cannabis Business Supplies & Real Estate – The Industry Keeps Growing

- BRT S02 EP50 (97) 12-12-2021

 

Guest: John Hartsell, CEO & Co-Founder Dizpot https://www.dizpot.com/

DIZPOT is a global cannabis packaging company with custom technologies for highly regulated markets. Headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., DIZPOT produces millions of packages every month, providing its customers with a single source solution to compliantly and competitively bring products to market.

CEO John Hartsell started Dizpot (pronounced dihz-po) with Jeff Scrabeck in 2017 in Phoenix, but now has worked in nearly every legal cannabis market, including Canada and Mexico. The company has warehouses in Oklahoma and Missouri and an office in Shenzhen, China. Hartsell works with manufacturers in Mexico, Italy, Vietnam, and Pakistan, but domestic manufacturers make up 20 percent of Dizpot's products.

 

Guest: Bryan McLaren, Chairman & CEO of Zoned Properties

https://zonedproperties.com/about-zoned-properties/

Bryan McLaren is Chairman and CEO of publicly traded Zoned Properties (ZDPY). As a certified and licensed realtor, Green Roof Professional,  LEED Green Associate, and former City Sustainability Commissioner, Bryan has navigated state regulatory programs for cannabis commercial real estate in over ten markets for over 100 development projects. 

Zoned Properties®, Inc. (OTCQB: ZDPY), a strategic real estate development firm whose primary mission is to provide real estate and sustainability services for the regulated cannabis industry, positioning the company for property acquisitions and revenue growth. They recently announced the market launch of its partnership with dispensary retail franchisor (The Open Dør). Zoned Properties invests in OpenDor with franchise model in cannabis using inspiration from McDonald’s as an example & model.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

Seg. 3

BRT Flashback Clip:

 

Cannabis Industry Post Legalization from Investing, 280E, MSOs, M&A & more... w/ Melissa Diaz & Alan Brochstein

- BRT S03 EP53 (152) 10-23-2022

Guest: Melissa Diaz w/ Rebel Rock

- customized accounting solutions, HR, and M&A for the Cannabis industry in AZ

https://rebelrock.co/melissa-diaz/

 

Melissa’s accounting experience as a CPA spans numerous industries, both domestically & internationally, including healthcare, hospitality and, of course, Cannabis. In addition to co-founding and serving as CFO to Rebel Rock, Melissa is CFO and Shareholder for High Rock Accounting, which places an emphasis on utilizing technology to strategically make day-to-day and long-term financial decisions, while pursuing company goals and compliancy. At High Rock and Rebel Rock, Melissa helps companies remain competitive and efficient in increasingly high-pressure and high-stakes environments. Starting in 2016 she started branching out into the Cannabis industry.

 

Alan Brochstein CFA of New Cannabis Ventures

https://www.newcannabisventures.com/

New Cannabis Ventures is a news & information platform offered by NCV Media, LLC that highlights promising companies and influential investors in the cannabis industry. NCV is a cannabis-centric marketing & communications company.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

 

 

Seg. 4 

BRT Flashback Clip:

Cannabis M&A from the U.S. to the Canadian Securities Exchange with Richard Carleton

- BRT S03 EP05 (104) 1-30-2022

 

Guest: Richard Carleton, CEO of CSE (Canadian Securities Exchange)

https://thecse.com/en/about/our-people/management-team

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/richard-carleton-3b460416

 

Richard Carleton was appointed CEO of the Canadian Securities Exchange in July 2011.  During his tenure, Richard and the CSE team have positioned the exchange to take a leading role in the provision of public capital to entrepreneurial companies; since 2014, the CSE has set a series of records for new listings, capital raised by issuers and trading turnover.  An early advocate for the cannabis industry, the CSE is the global exchange leader in the sector.  Recognized by the Financial Post Magazine as one of Canada’s “25 Cannabis Industry Power Players”, and a recipient of the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp’s “Captain of Industry” Award in November 2018, Richard is a frequent speaker on early-stage company finance issues around the world, and involved in Canadian Securities for 30 years.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

BRT Flashback Clip:

Cannabis Supply Chain & License Structure in AZ w/ Demitri Downing of Marijuana Industry Trade Association

- BRT S03 EP13 (112) 3-27-2022

 

Guests: Demitri Downing w/ MITA AZ

https://mita-az.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/demitri-downing-5250531/

 

Demitri Downing is a former prosecutor and industry registered lobbyist who is part of the original vanguard of Arizona medical marijuana industry leaders. Dedicated to building a vibrant and successful market, Downing has distinguished himself as a vested industry expert and influential trailblazer. With a strong understanding of both policy and operations on a local and international level, Downing was instrumental in drafting Prop 205, Arizona’s 2016 legalization bill and currently serves as an advisor to the 2020 Arizona recreational initiative committee.

In May of 2016, seeing the need for strong State level industry associations, Downing founded MITA-AZ, the Arizona Marijuana Industry Trade Association, the state’s first and largest industry trade association. He is also the co-founder of the Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo, which hosted shows in Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas, and Miami. In addition, he has collaborated with other industry innovators to foster inclusivity and cultural and ethnic diversity in the cannabis space. As part Native American and Mexican, Downing is the founding member of the National Indian Cannabis Coalition (NICC), an organization focused on guiding native communities into emerging cannabis market opportunities and founding member of the Mexican Cannabis Business Alliance. Downing is also the co-founder of AMMA PAC, a patient’s first organization in Arizona, and co-founder of digital publication Arizona Cannabis Monthly.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

BRT Flashback Clip

Valuation of Cannabis Co’s w/ CPA Josephine Giordano

- BRT S03 EP08 (107) 2-20-2022

Guest: Josephine Giordano, CPA, ABV, CFF, CFE, CBA, ASA, CDBV, CIRA, CICA, CTP, CCCE Director in the Financial Forensics and Business Valuation Services Group

National Cannabis Practice Leader       

BeachFleischman

https://beachfleischman.com/about/leadership-team/josephine-giordano/

Josephine Giordano is a Director in the Financial Forensics and Valuation Services Group and National Cannabis Practice Leader at BeachFleischman PC. Ms. Giordano’s extensive experience includes the areas of internal audit, banking, regulatory compliance, fraud investigation, forensic accounting, public accounting/tax, business valuations, bankruptcy & restructuring, turnaround management, expert witness, court-appointed receiverships, and special master and compliance monitoring appointments. She also holds an MBA in corporate finance. She has been consulting and doing accounting for over 25 years, with the last five, working in Cannabis.

 

Full Show: Here

 

 

Cannabis Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Cannabis-Hemp-Marijuana

 

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

Create Your Investing Profile & Share It on Savvy Trader w/ Hamid Shojaee

BRT S03 EP58 (157) 11-20-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• Savvy Trader allows you to share your portfolio
• Investing Track Record - see how people actually invest & their results
• Why Software is Such a Good Business Model, Build 1x, sell multiple X
• VCs want to see Traction in Startups
• Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) & Long term Value of a Custer (LTV) are critical in scaling a startup long term, how much does it cost to get a customer, and how long do you keep them 

 

 

 

Guests: Hamid Shojaee AZ Tech Beat

https://aztechbeat.com/

https://azdisruptors.com/

https://www.azcowork.com/         

Hamid talks all thing AZ tech, Startups and what the world of an Angel Investor really looks like. His 2 decades + of experience is laid out, from starting and running software companies, plus exited the industry to now an Angel Investor mentoring the next generation of Startups.

Hamid (Founder of Axosoft and Pure Chat) has always had a passion in helping Arizona's up-and-coming tech talent. Since 2010, Hamid has been involved with various AZ tech initiatives, including bringing tech founder and CEOs together, investing in startups and helping push the #YesPHX community forward.

Axosoft – software tools for software development

PureChat – live chat software for websites

Hamid is a 20 year + software veteran who’s built four different multi-million dollar SaaS products in the last twenty years. He recently sold two software companies, Axosoft and Pure Chat, and has been advising and investing in Arizona-based startups for nearly a decade. He recently announced he’ll be investing $10 million in promising Arizona tech startups. Hamid is also host of the AZ Tech Podcast, where he interviews Arizona’s most successful founders, investors and doers.

AZ Disruptors is founded by Hamid Shojaee (@hamids) and Lawdan Shojaee (@lawdan) as a vehicle to invest in for-profit companies that want to make the world a better place, with a geographical focus on Arizona’s tech ecosystem. Working with startups and investing (20 companies). The criteria listed on the website for a Startup to be considered for investment.

AZ CoWork was founded by Hamid and Lawdan Shojaee as a way to support and foster the next generation of fast-growing tech companies in Arizona. They designed the 12,000 square-foot space, which conveniently sits directly below Axosoft and PureChat, to cater specifically towards tech startups through hosting various local startup groups and events, providing mentorship opportunities, and cultivating a community of like-minded founders. 

AZ Tech Beat is Arizona’s online news source for everything related to technology and science. We aim to highlight the efforts of the talented Arizonans trying to make a positive impact in the world. We also produce AZ Tech Podcast (https://aztechbeat.com/category/podcast/), a weekly show featuring conversations with some of Arizona’s most interesting founders, investors, scientists and other doers. Covers the AZ Startup community, the struggles and people involved. Find the podcast library here, watch the interviews on YouTube or listen on your favorite podcast app.

AZ Tech Beat is founded by Hamid Shojaee and financially supported by the Shojaee Foundation. Stories are written and reported by Adrienne St. Clair (@agestclair) and Abby Sharpe (@byabbysharpe).

 

 

https://savvytrader.com/

What is Savvy Trader? Create

Create a virtual portfolio of your stocks and crypto. Buy or sell your investments at any time to keep your portfolio up to date.

Share

Share your portfolio for free, or set a price, for your followers to get access to your portfolio and notified about your trades.

Notify

Notify your subscribers when you make a trade. Savvy Trader will send a text or email to everyone subscribed to your portfolio.

 

Savvy Trader is on a mission to make investment information more accessible.

Learning about stocks and crypto can be intimidating and overwhelming with incredibly high levels of noise and very little signal.

Savvy Trader helps solve this problem in two ways:

1. Create and trade stocks and crypto in a safe virtual portfolio environment. The Savvy Trader virtual portfolios work a lot like a real brokerage account, except the trades are not real, allowing users to experiment and learn.
2. Portfolio Creators can also share their virtual portfolios. A great way to learn about stocks and crypto is to see the virtual portfolios of others, see the actual performance of those portfolios as if they were real, and learn about the reasons behind the creators decisions for buying or selling each holding.

So go ahead, create a virtual portfolio and share it with the world.

Speaking of, I have a Savvy Trader virtual portfolio myself. Truth be told, I wanted to create Savvy Trader for myself as an easy way for me to consolidate my holdings in multiple accounts into a single virtual portfolio that represents my actual investments, and I wanted an easy way to share my portfolio details with friends and family. You can subscribe to my portfolio below - it's free!

 

Notes:

 

Seg 1

Hamid has a long history in tech, 20+ years and software. Sold his company in 2020.

Software is a great and unique business model. You can build the software utility one time and then sell it many times. Build 1x, sell it many x

The cost is with the software development team, and heavy costs upfront. There is very little traditional capEx long term, as you do not need to build multiple physical products.

It does not matter if you have one customer, 10,000 customers, or 1,000,000+ customers, all costs the same.

It is a high margin business with lower expenses, and now you can manage it and host it in the cloud.

The classic Marc Andreessen quote software will eat in the world

There is a high bar on user experience which is why you need the best software engineers and they cost a lot of money. With those engineers you can build a great product and scale to millions of users. You will always have the cost of the team on going with maintenance & upgrades needed to the software.

Software is a never done story, you’re always in development. With some small start ups the founder may be the developer and now you’re just talking the cost of their time and the opportunity cost.

Venture capitalist want to see traction in a start up, they want the graph to go up into the right. VC are looking for the ability to scale and have a product that can play in a big market.

VC is looking for the type of market to 10x their invested money, get an ROI to make it worth their time. VC makes many bets because most of them fail, and they need their few successes to be large.

VC looking for that start up that can become a unicorn, as guy Kawasaki said it is unique and valuable.

Question does the market or the product come first?

Hamid built Savvy Trader to solve a problem. He had looked for a solution and could not find it.

 

Seg 2

Savvy Trader - what is your performance? Track your portfolio online

Internet of investing w s Wild West, No idea what peoples track record is

Get ideas or virtual portfolio to learn, can use portfolio to teach people with case study

Skin in the game - where people put $

Follow investors online, know if full of crap or not, not cherry picking winners, and post with survivor bias. Hamid portfolio is down in 2022 and you can see it

Long time investor in the Buffett mode

Investment style - buy cos you know and understand

Good valuation, market cap not ridiculous

What is the revenue? Any profit? Strong financials vs market cap

Investing is 10% identifying cos to buy and 90% wait, as can’t impact outcome

Could be years before know if investing choice was right

Pandemic valuations during 2020 were way too high.

Case study of looking at investment potential.

Apple is a $2 trillion company so there is diminished potential to have a 10x return as it would then need to become a $20 trillion company. When a company is so large it is hard to move the needle.

The entire stock market valuation is $46 trillion. Netflix is $128 billion company so 10 X is Plausible through user growth, ad revenue, and raising rates.

Micro cap stocks are smaller companies with higher risk but the potential to 10x. You want to look for stocks with the potential of growth, that not have not achieve success yet.

 

Seg 3

Hamid owns Tesla, Netflix, FB, Uber

How to think about diversification, Hamid makes 2 to 3 bigger bats in the past when is risk tolerance was higher, now it is lower so he makes 4 to 5 bets. If you have too much diversification, your returns will be subdued.

Facebook stock as a case study, over the short term the market over reacts and is very emotional. the.com boom and bust of 2000 or the 2008 housing market crash, or current 2022 and people are sour on tech stocks.

Netflix stock was $600 in late 2021 and drop two as low as 170 in the summer of 2022. Financially Netflix lost 1 million users or a half a percent of their 200 million user base. Contrast that the stock lost 70% of its value. It has rebounded back up to 310.

Market over reacts on the highs and lows stocks are over bought of times and then oversold.

Facebook was at 380 in late 2021, and now is at 100 in the fall of 2022. Seems like Facebook is at a discount? Did the market overreact or did Mark Zuckerberg become an idiot overnight? Same people bought Facebook at $300 plus and then sold it at 150.

Stock analyst give buy ratings to stocks when they’re at their high and sell ratings when they’re at that low. Analyst seem to follow momentum.

Some selling in the market creates more selling. This has to do with momentum and fund managers who have to dump losers, boat with high speed traders selling.

 

Seg 4

Tesla stock has seen a bomb in the last few years. Turns out the retail investor was right for a stock analyst who would recommend Tesla to be sold.

Tesla has 70% of the EV market. SpaceX is building reusable rockets, a feet that even NASA could not do. Obviously Musk knows something.

Facebook has 2 billion users daily and is still making billions and add revenue. When you’re investing in the start up world anymore diversification versus public markets has 80% of startups fail. You need the one or two that succeed to vastly make up for the money invested in all start ups.

Hamid advises founders on a limited basis. Common piece of advice is that they’re going to need a long runway, and it will be difficult to raise money in the current environment. He believes there will be less start ups being created with huge money behind them in 2023.

More start ups will fail in 2023. Cost of money / debt is higher. On the positive side there may be less competition for start ups. hamid personally saw some unreal valuations over the last year.

One example is he was offered to invest in a company that claim their own valuation was at $1 billion when they only had $17 million in sales. Early stage start ups are not expected to have a valuation, sales or profitability. Later on though your valuation goes hand-in-hand with revenue. Expected valuations are 3x to 7x of revenues.

FTX downfall was through exuberance. At one point they were rumored to be buying more Robin Hood as well as other crypto companies. Their exchange always seemed a little shady, like a black box with no info on financials, no one knew what was behind the veil.

It’s a common red flag if a company is churning through cash too quickly.

Uber was the company at one point that had serious churn in the beginning, but now seems to be a better investment. They are profitable and seem to be sustainable. Uber customers will stay just like Netflix they’re likely not to cancel. The cost of the customer acquisition plus the lifetime value of the customer is very solid.

Uber valuation is 62 billion with limited profitability right now. Oddly enough it’s a lower market cap than it was five years ago when I wasn’t profitable at all.

value investors get frustrated with tech valuations being so wide-eyed.

Uber will continue to grow, as now it has three revenue sources. It makes money from the rides, the eats, and the freight division. The eats plus freight division is a little over half their income and actually more income for us the rides.

Per Elon Mosk Robo taxis will be available in the next five years which will make rideshare is bigger. This may not happen in five years but likely in the future.

Uber CEO Dara K ran Expedia prior to Uber so obviously you know something about running a big company. Uber followed the same story as Google did 20 years ago when they needed to hire an adult in the room, professional manager. This mirrors when Google hired Eric Schmidt.

 

 

 

 

Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech-Startup-VC-Cybersecurity-Energy-Science

 

‘Best Of’ Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

 

Agile + Intelligence = Agilence Using Data to Run Your Company & Prevent Loss w/ Russ Hawkins - BRT S03 EP57 (156) 11-13-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• Agile + Intelligence = Agilence, bringing great data analysis to companies
• How to Read Data – managers need easy to read and quality data to make quick decisions for multiple locations
• Reports – that provide the data points that show when locations are operating properly, or off the average expectations
• Agilence will continue organic growth, and make acquisitions of adjacent data analytics companies

 

 

 

Guest: Russ Hawkins, CEO Agilence

https://www.agilenceinc.com/

Agilence is the leader in data analytics and reporting in the retail, restaurant, grocery, convenience, and pharmacy industries. We develop intelligent data analytics and reporting technology that enables organizations to easily connect the dots within their stores or restaurants by automatically collecting and summarizing data to identify anomalies and trends that can improve operations, measure enterprise-wide performance, and boost profits.

Agilence provides users with a complete view of their business, empowering them to make informed decisions faster and improving efficiency across the enterprise.

 

Bio:

Russ Hawkins is the President and CEO of the leading data technology company, Agilence. Russ has spent over 35-years in the technology industry, helping established organizations and small start-ups reach their full potential by driving change from the "inside."

Russ is responsible for developing the overall strategy and leading the growth of SAAS Analytics & Reporting company Agilence, which helps retailers, grocers, and restaurants improve their operational effectiveness and uncover preventable losses using the data already in their hands.

Before Agilence, he transformed two early-stage technology companies into successful businesses by leading go-to-market strategies focused on product development, re-brands, and customer profile analysis resulting in exponential growth and success.

He was President and CEO of SilverStorm Technologies, a developer and manufacturer of high-performance computer networking equipment, from 2004 until 2006, when he sold the company to QLogic Corporation.

Before SilverStorm, he was the President and CEO of Paragon Networks, a developer of wide-area backhaul solutions for wireless networks, which he sold to Carrier Access Corporation in 2003. Before Paragon, Russ spent 15 years at Lucent Technologies in various management positions.

In his free time, Russ enjoys golfing, reading and is interested in the conservation of water resources. He graduated from Boston College in 1980.

 

 

 

Notes:

Seg 1

Agile + Intelligence = Agilence

Data Analytics

Companies are awash in data and need to determine how to read the data for it to be useful for daily and monthly business decisions.

Agilence was founded in 2006 to deal with the loss prevention space using video technology to monitor. They would look at anomalies in data as well as check transactions using video to watch.

In 2008 Russ Hawkins was hired by the investors. Re-organized the company and the data analytics and shifted the focus of the company to data.

Agilence software is used by customers with multiple locations, for example a client could have 12 to 100+ stores. Some of their biggest clients are CVS and Dollar Tree.

These companies have an HQ that might be across the country that is watching over hundreds or thousands of stores. They need to be able to read the data on all the stores in 1 place. They need easy to use tools to analyze this data.

The data helps them with merchandising, operations, HR, and loss prevention.

 

Seg 2

Agilence provides at least 6 data fields for customers to review within their company.

1. POS or point-of-sale transaction logs
2. E Commerce transaction logs
3. HR log of employees
4. store info for the physical location
5. item file for products and
6. loyalty information for customer programs

These 6 items or data feeds are going to the cloud.

It is not uncommon that a client could have 20 data sources, other examples could be a P&L for accounting, or supply chain information.

The Pandemic really affected the impact on E-commerce and it is going to grow more in the future.

Angilence provides best practices to clients for review to use the data daily. Questions are set up to ask of the data when things seem off, then the system alerts Managers, usually through email.

Common things they are looking for or fraud or a lost product,

1. daily sales performance, performance of a special sale or
2. cost dealing with loss prevention.
3. Compliance public co - external and internal

 

 

Seg 3

Compliance – Agilence is perfect to handle compliance needs

Standard deviation and mean stats, measure data versus normal margins

Example would be comped meals at a restaurant, send notifications based on what normal expectation is, is the Manager comping too many meals, too few?

External Compliance is legal product and laundering or fraud

Example in the pharmacy biz could be doctor shopping and the downside is fraud or even in jail

Internal Compliance strategy and alignment to execute at all the locations what HQ wants

It’s a leadership test as most companies are managed by a professional manager these days and not the Founder anymore

Per Russ, facts are our friends, and companies need facts on the ground to determine if the locations are executing, or is the CEO plan viable?

Alerts and automatic analysis exceeded objectives and give info and advice and orders to managers at stores. It’s like automatic management for each individual store manager. Gives them commands like if this happens then do this.

Managers and store locations are managed with an alert function. Example is Spirit Halloween stores that are open for 4 months out of the year and there are 12 different monitor points per store. Since stores are set up quick it is hard to do fall on management training.

 

Seg 4

Russ background is in sales and technology. He started his career in Boston selling for a New England bell telephone. In 1990s he shifted to tech and computers.

He was recruited by a VC to Agilence. They worked together to raise money.

Client onboarding usually takes 3 weeks to 2 1/2 months. Agilence has a team of 70 and makes $20 million in recurring revenue a year.

Currently they have 200 customers, with over 4000 companies as possible customers

Agilence has a virtual company with limited offices. On their staff they have 20 developers and 20 customer service reps. They are mature company, that is self sustaining, VC backing is not needed as much now.

There are 3 stages to a tech company with investment, the 1st is the seed stage, then the series a thru D investment rounds, then a sale or IPO. Private Equity acquired Agilence in 2021

Tech companies go through sales steps of $0 to 1 mil, which is extremely difficult, than $1 to 10 mill a year in sales which is also very hard, and then once you reach $10 million it’s almost inevitable that you will get to $100 million a year in sales.

Agilence plan is to continue their organic growth, as well as also do growth by acquisition and acquire adjacent data analytics companies.

They run the company through cloud storage with major companies like Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure. Agilence also has its own data center.

Future potential markets for agile wants to work with, are and Insurance and banking

 

 

 

 

Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech

 

More - BRT Tech Shows:

 

Big Data, AI, + Psychographics – How Amazon, Google & Other Big Tech Keep You on Their Platform

Full Show: HERE

 

Crossing the Chasm to AI, EV, GPS, Space & Incubators

Best of Tech 2022

Full Show: HERE

 

Cell Based Collagen from Jellatech + BRT 2.2021 - Best of Tech 2021

BRT S02 EP52 (99) 12-26-2021 – Tech for the Holidays – BRT Best of Tech 2021

 

Thanks for Listening

Please Subscribe to the Podcast

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

Luck & Risk + How to Build a Crystal Ball - BRT – WFL S03 EP56 (155) 11-6-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• 4 Kinds of Luck - Blind, Hard Work, Preparation, Reputation
• Crystal Ball - Read to get Data on Tech Trends
• Types of Risk - Interest Rate, Inflation, Play it Safe
• Market Risk - Buffet Rule # 1 - Never Lose $, how Mkt losses affect your portfolio & timeline

 

 

Co-Host: Denver Nowicz, President - Wealth For Life

https://wealthforlife.net/brt/

https://twitter.com/denvernowicz 

Denver is an advisor with nearly 20 years experience working with clients in investments and insurance, designing retirement plans with a combo of both. He takes us through different strategies for clients to get the best allocations for their money over the long term. It is the Combo Strategy of both Offense and Defense, the synergy of the mix, not ‘All or Nothing’.

 

Notes: 

4 Kinds of Luck in Business

In 1980, Bill Gates and Microsoft struck a software deal with IBM to create an operating system for their computers. This is considered the greatest business deal in history.  Why? Not only did a then relatively unknown software company called Microsoft get its biggest customer ever, they also struck a non exclusive licensing deal to sell the same operating system to other companies. This deal put Microsoft on the map, while simultaneously flipping the future of these 2 major computer companies. Microsoft would one day supplant IBM in the industry.  There are many details and conflicting stories to how this legendary deal went down. (For the Details: HERE)  One thing is for sure, there was some luck involved. Bill Gates mother was on the United Way board, and knew the CEO of IBM, so a personal connection was established. When IBM first approached Gates, he connected them with Gary Kildall of DRI as he was the premiere software developer. But IBM and Kildall could not cut a deal, and IBM came back to Gates and Microsoft.  On the other side, Microsoft had established themselves as a fast growing computer company by 1980, and had caught IBM's attention. It's BASIC software already had hundreds of thousands of users. Also the MS-DOS software turned out to be more compatible and cheaper then Kildall's software.  When reviewing this deal, one can ask -  Did they get lucky? Was it Skill that got the deal?  Was it a combo of both? Maybe there different types of luck. Let's look at 4 Kinds... Blind Luck or Dumb Luck  You just got lucky. You were in the right place, at the right time. This is nearly impossible to repeat, so cannot bank on this plan of action over the long term. Enjoy the benefits while you can, but limited lessons you can learn here.  Luck thru Hard Work & Persistence You got lucky because of a compounding effect of consistent hard work over time. You are out there doing work, meeting contacts, providing value, etc. Then you post marketing content often, discussing your work and showing case studies. You also work with many different people, who you foster the relationship and they recommend you. This system can be replicated if one is willing to do the work. 'The harder I work, the luckier I get.'  Luck thru Preparation, to Discover Opportunities  You got lucky because you are the 'eternal student', always researching about your industry, or an adjacent one. Because of this you find the growing trends to take advantage of, or meet the contacts who open your eyes to a potential deal or new market.  This system also can be replicated, assuming your have the intellectual curiosity to do deep dives on topics and meet the relevant people involved. Of course, you also have to do the work. 'Luck = Chance + Preparation'.  Luck Because of Reputation You got lucky because you have been doing such good work for years that has provided you a stellar professional reputation as the go to guy. When someone thinks 'X', your name comes up. The question is asked, 'who is the best guy at X', and they contact you for help.  This system is repeatable if you do the work to build your reputation ('it precedes you') thru years of good work and great results + promotion again. 

For more of this topic, go straight to the source: Dr. James H. Austin wrote a book (in 1978) breaking down the 4 kinds of Luck: Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty. 

How to Build Your Own Crystal Ball

 

Older people sit down and ask, ‘what is it?’ But the Boy asks ‘what can I do with it.’ 

Don't fall into an outdated mindset. Keep up with the trends. - Steve Jobs

 

The best in business understand how to Anticipate the Future. They see the Train coming around the corner.

Business and Technology trends are ever changing.  To survive you must keep up with what has happened in the industry. More than anything this is a mindset of ongoing learning.

Warren Buffett is an avid reader. He reads 4 – 5 hours per day looking for ideas. He’s lucky if he finds a few good ideas in a year. This has been deemed his super power.

 

If you want your own Crystal Ball to see the future, you need to be constantly researching and reading what is going on. From the internet to newsletters to conferences to books, there is no lack of options for where to find information.

There are so many free blogs and newsletters to choose from on niche subjects of tech, VC, or crypto to name a few. If you need the deeper dive, find a paid subscription service doing research on an industry for business or investing.

Get the Data. You need people who can provide you the intel about an industry.

Insiders are the best source of intelligence. Build a Network of people ‘in the know’ in an industry you want to know more about. If you need to know about a few industries, then make a few contacts, whom each represent an industry.

You also need to form business partnerships so you keep learning and evolving. A change in an industry on the tech side, may also mean a financial change or legal change. A good team of Advisors (accountant, attorney, tax advisor, financial consultant, etc) can be invaluable as they deal with multiple clients and see things that may not currently be going on in your business.

 

Disruption in tech and business is ever present.

It is not uncommon for someone to change careers 2 to 3x in their lifetime. Being aware of the trends can help to make informed decisions of what is going on.

Is the industry you are working in growing or dying? If the industry is on a downward trend, what industry can you jump to on the way up? Knowing what is going on industry wide and the tech trends can affect your career or business.

 

Real World Example

We will use the tech industry as an example on keeping up with trends, since it impacts so many other industries. Here are some Tips of where to get insights on the Tech Industry:

 

Tech Trends to be aware of from a quick search on Google.

Each of the below technologies overlaps in many industries today.

Regardless if you work in tech, you have probably heard of many of them.

 

 

Risk

Playing it safe and taking no chances is still risky inflation risk if you are just holding cash and putting your money in the mattress, inflation eats away at the value of the cash and your purchasing power

Think of your business as an asset class whether it is a digital business or a traditional physical business, the old brick and mortar

Buy assets to fight inflation, as they appreciate over time  

Interest rate risk when the interest rate for loans rises, it cost you more to get money, called the cost of capital

Dangerous to use credit cards as you have high debt with higher interest rates

When interest rates go up it makes a mortgage more expensive and it’s harder to buy a house

Savers thrive in a high interest rate environments, and savers are punished in low interest rate times

Higher interest rates hurts real estate, and business as it puts a strain on the industries. Again, cost of capital to get loans cost more because the interest rates is higher.

On the flipside business or real estate is cheaper to buy in a depressed market, and the return on the asset over the long term is a good opportunity even if interest rates are higher.

ROIC - return on invested capital -  Ex: put $100K in investment and cash flow $50K a year over 5 years, means you put in invested $100K, & got $250K or a 2.5x ROIC

Even in high interest rates, these investment numbers make sense

The old adage don’t jump over dollars to get pennies, monitor the big picture

Insurance strategies have matching dollars like 3 to 1 tax-free matching, leverage can expand to your ROI

Credit card co’s, use debt to buy things, inflation and higher interest rates help

Market Risk and Market Volatility

Can be hard to handle emotionally, as market losses Mount.

We’re always told to not be emotional about investments but it’s very hard. A lot of people just invest in the stock market they hope one thing happens buy low and Sell high as long as the stock appreciates everything will go OK we’re banking on appreciation only

From 2010 to 2020 this was a good strategy, as the market was great, up 329%, but from 2000 to 2010, the market had almost a 0% return

2000 to 2020 – up 304%, or 6.74% per year

Can you trust traditional stock market returns?

You need defensive assets to have balance

In 2022, you lost 50% if you owned tech stocks, Facebook stock has lost 70%

How long is it going to take to get it back?

Wealthy do not want to go backwards, they have a percentage of their portfolio in stocks, with an overall portfolio of multiple assets

Buffett Rule #1, never lose money, Rule #2, remember Rule #1

Your advisor should know asset classes

Incorporate an insurance strategy with principal protection

Focus on 2 to 3 items in your protfolio

Best return is on your core business, returns will probably be better than what you get in the market  

Break up your assets into: businesses, stocks, real estate, insurance strategies

Entrepreneurs think different, as entrepreneurship is not really about recessions Recession is not a common topic, as entrepreneurs are always looking for where the opportunities and trends are heading

 

 

 

 

More Info on WFL and Tax Free Matching: HERE

 

 

Wealth For Life Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Wealth+For+Life

 

Link to Taxes Show on 10/31/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Offense / Defense Show on 6/6/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Shows, Denver was a Guest: Here

 

Investing Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/investing

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

BRT S03 EP55 (154) 10-30-2022 – Clean Energy & the State of AZ Tech in 2022 w/ Steve Zylstra of the AZ Tech Council

 

What We Learned This Week

• Chips & Science Act is good for Semiconductors & the U.S. Supply Chain
• Clean Energy - many Tech Co's working on zero emission plan
• Semiconductor – big Tech Co’s building plants in AZ
• Nuclear Power tech is vastly improved & viable in the future

 

 

 

Guest: Steve Zylstra, President / CEO AZ Tech Council

https://www.aztechcouncil.org/

https://www.aztechcouncil.org/kfnx_july2021/

 

Steve Zylstra of AZ Tech Council joins BRT to talk all things technology in the Valley. The Arizona Technology Council is one of the largest technology-driven trade associations in North America, with over 850 members and growing, the only organization specifically serving technology companies statewide. They protect innovators and truly believe that technology moves all of us forward; and are dedicated to the future of Arizona.

 

Steve Zylstra advocates for AZ tech, as well as his recurring writing about the industry. Steve, and the Council are a major source for updates on technology, business growth, and what legislation is being drafted.

We talk about AZ as a great technology hub in the U.S., and how it compares to Silicon Valley, Boston, etc. Also the Future tech Co’s moving to the valley, influx of people moving to the valley from CA, NY, etc.

How high tech jobs help the valley, and surrounding business plus VC and Angel Investing. The importance of semiconductors and Aerospace, two of the most prominent industries in AZ.

 

 

 

Notes:

 

Arizona continues to attract business from other states. Finding talent is the main issue for these businesses. In 2023 most businesses are expecting a recession with lower growth rates, but still some growth, just not double digit growth. There will be layoffs and cutbacks. Intel is building a semiconductor fab center in Chandler, AZ.

The chips and science act passed by the governor has been a good thing for the semiconductor industry. It specifically benefits states like Oregon, New Mexico, Ohio, California and Arizona.

The inflation reduction act will have $369 billion going to clean and clean energy industry. This really benefits Arizona because of the UV and solar industry in the state.

Supply chain of semiconductors, in the past 39% were made in the US. Now it is just 12% with Asia being the main producer. Silicon Valley was born out of the semiconductor industry post World War II.

Intel investing 20 billion on to fab‘s in Arizona. Taiwan semiconductor TSMC has already invested 12 billion in phase 1 to build a fab in North Phoenix.

It has been a 2 year construction job with estimates of 3000 construction workers on it and 1800 employees who will later work in the fab. Location is at I 17 and the 303 in Anthem.

 

Seg 2

Cost in Asia with labor are up so savings cost not as much to produce overseas.

Covid Pandemic taught us that having supply chains offshore is a threat. There is  security needed plus the reality to bring production back to the US. Semiconductor industry is crucial to multiple industries in America like auto and computers.

TSMC bringing suppliers also to the US dozens of equipment and chemicals makers located right here in North Phoenix and in Casa Grande. Suppliers are coming because of Intel and TSMC.

Famous business consultant Michael Porter talked about industries that cluster because of boom in an industry.

Samsung is putting a plant in Austin Texas, Micron building in Boise Idaho, and Intel also spending $20 billion to build a plant in Ohio. Arizona already has many semiconductor companies here like On Semi Marvel ASM and ASML.

EV industry is big in Arizona with companies like Nikola, Atlis Motors, Lucid, ZEV. You also have battery plants here like LG and Core Power.

Other big companies that are in the battery industry are Tesla and Samsung. There’s a company called Ly-cycle in Gilbert Arizona that does lithium battery recycling

 

Seg 3

Semi conductors are in a lot of products like smart homes and appliances and devices. This is called IOT or the Internet of things, and in the future almost everything will have a chip in it. Intel has a center of excellence which deals with IOT on the industrial side, where downtime in devices is monitored with sensors.

Always a danger with tech in modern society of an EMP weapon electromagnetic pulse

Defense Industry and Aerospace are very big in AZ. They must be located in the US for security purposes. In times of crisis you can’t depend on foreign production and offshore supply.

Clean energy is a common theme with many tech industries as they are at, or moving to zero admissions. Oil still necessary but the demand may go down over the next 10 to 20 years.

Nuclear energy may be on a comeback. There is already a large plant since 1988 in Palo Verde, Arizona, west of Phoenix. It’s the largest nuclear power plant in the US giving power to both California and Arizona.

Nuclear power tech has come a long way and is much better and safer option then it was 40 years ago. Nuclear power is back in the energy Mix

 

Seg 4

How to make the transition from oil & coal to clean energy. There is a need to build a better charger charging station infrastructure for EV vehicles. Solar and wind will become more prominent over the next decade.

Nuclear Energy has new potential, can build quicker, smaller and more modular micro facility types. Facility of this size could give power to millions of people, but would be much smaller than the Palo Verde nuclear plant in AZ

Wind Farms already in Arizona near Holbrook in the high desert. Solar there is much better battery tech these days to store solar energy.

Atlis Motors CEO Mark Hanchett’s company just went public and they want to be an energy company, to focus long-term on their battery technology

 

 

 

Tech Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Tech

 

More - BRT Best of Tech 2021:

Cell Based Collagen from Jellatech + BRT 2.2021 - Best of Tech 2021

BRT Summer TechFest 2021 – Drones, Robotics & More Tech

BRT S02 EP52 (99) 12-26-2021 – Tech for the Holidays – BRT Best of Tech 2021

 

Thanks for Listening

Please Subscribe to the Podcast

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

BRT – WFL: Accumulation vs. Distribution & Why Wall Street only sells Accumulation, plus Recovery thru Options Strategies  

 

BRT S03 EP54 (153) 10-28-2022 – Wealth for Life

 

Things We Learned This Week

• Accumulation - easier for Wall St to sell, just buy stocks in your 401K, Market goes up over time
• Distribution - income planning, market risk (Sequence of Returns Risk), and life all make this phase more complicated for advisors to talk about
• Avoid the ‘One Thing Retirement Plan’ – if this one thing goes right (market goes up), I will be fine
• NEW 60/40 Split - Bonds out, Option Strategies in, adjust your portfolio with assets that produce income, and have no market risk
• Income Planning – setup long before retirement, to have income bucket grow with principal protection and option to lock in gains

 

 

 

Co-Host: Denver Nowicz, President - Wealth For Life

https://wealthforlife.net/brt/

https://twitter.com/denvernowicz 

Denver is an advisor with nearly 20 years experience working with clients in investments and insurance, designing retirement plans with a combo of both. He takes us through different strategies for clients to get the best allocations for their money over the long term. It is the Combo Strategy of both Offense and Defense, the synergy of the mix, not ‘All or Nothing’.

 

 

Notes: 

Get away from timing the market and learn about accumulation versus distribution

Financial advisors talk a lot about accumulation because it’s easy to sell this idea. Just discuss the thesis that the market goes up over time so invest your money, wait, earn interest and watch it compound

Real life can throw you a curve. When you retire, the process and unexpected expenses in life from family to health can throw off a financial plan. The market does always help your plan with recessions to inflation.

Distribution is messy and complicated, it’s all about taking income when you retire, and if you do it wrong, it can eat away at your savings. Have to be careful of sequence of returns risk, what to do when you take money while the market is going down  

Sequence of Returns Risk: "Sequence" refers to the fact that the order and timing of poor investment returns can have a big impact on how long your retirement savings last.

60/40 split of equities & bonds no longer works. Bonds have been OK in the past and down markets but recently have been poor. You need to diversify your assets, have different assets that can with all different market conditions.

Avoid the one thing retirement plan where you hope that the market goes up, if this one thing happens I’ll be fine. We are told to not be emotional about investing, especially in a down market, but very difficult.

The market can be a emotional roller coaster, up, then down. When do you sell stocks to take profits and lock in the gains?

You want to harvest profits, and stocks are good for appreciating, but not for capturing the gains. Options strategies have principal protection (protect vs downside risk), no market risk, and the ability to lock in gains so you can harvest profits. With a 0% floor, and caps, you capture the market upside.

Set up your income planning strategy long before retirement. Start thinking about this in your mid 40s or by the time you’re in your 50s. This is an accumulation annuity that uses advanced options to capture profits. They have a very high participation rate on the index, a par rate of 265%

If an index goes up 5%, can earn 13% (with the 265% par rate). Normal market investment vehicle is 100 % par rate = market goes up 5%, you get 5% credited to your account

Traditional investment portfolio – 60 / 40 split of stocks and bonds. Breakdown of a portfolio case study, use annuities to replace bonds, 20 - 40% in accumulation annuities.

Further examples of an asset breakdown could be business income (20%), insurance products like life insurance (20%), annuities would be replacing bonds (20%), stocks (20%), balance of real estate, cash, and alternative investments – 20%.

 

Case study in detail, you have $10,000 in monthly expenses, Social Security will cover $2000, now you need $8000 to fill. With the right income strategy as you can get at least $6000 of it.

Insurance companies use options in annuity strategy with a 0% floor, and they are able to do this because they generate money in their fixed income accounts, then buy options with the ability to lock in market gains. The money is never invested in the market. Insurance companies are the only industry that can guarantee principal protection.

Careful using pension type annuities as they have limitations, and are more complicated, and rates can change Traditional annuities are for income, but you are locked in. We want flexibility, and know the potential upside, while also being able to walk away with your money.

Accumulation Strategy using Options – contracted thru Major insurance companies like Allianz with their PIMCO structure are used for investments

Upside potential with these types of strategies. Link to the market for upside, but no downside risk. Going to cash and pulling your money from the market is not a good strategy.

This is a ten year strategy, so better to start in your 40s. Rates can be locked in for 5 years to maximize the market gains. If you believe the markets can earn 5% / year next 5 years, then this strategy can earn you double digit returns. The market history is average of about 8% / year, but not always consistent. 

 

More on these topics:

Learn about Accumulation Annuities: https://wealthforlife.net/recovery/

 

Does the 60/40 Split Still Work in Investing? Bonds Portion Needs Help

• What is the 60/40 Split in Investing? Equities 60% for Growth/ Bonds 40% for Income
• Bonds Returns have been going down for 2 decades, hurting Retirements
• Sequence of Returns Risk – When you retire matters, if the Market is down, your income can take a big hit
• Annuities - Bonds Replacement for Income, w/ Inflation increases & Income for Life

 

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

Beware Taxes! Defense is What You Need vs Offense in Your Investment Gameplan

 

Synergy of Offense / Defense – diversification of income streams, lessen market risk

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

Assets – Appreciating vs. Harvesting

 

Assets: Appreciating vs. Harvesting  

There are many different Assets you can invest in. Common asset classes are Stocks, Bonds, Gold & Real Estate. There are Alternative assets like Crypto, Art, Private Equity, etc.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

You Need to Control 3 Things in Investing – Taxes, Capital & Assets

 

Investing plan for Top 10% of income earners ($150K +) or top 5% ($250K +)

Need different strategies, not just 401K or stocks, not like other 90% of population

Wealthy diversify their assets / investments, stock market is just 25% of their investing

Control taxes – protect money from taxes

Control Capital - access to capital – use leverage properly at 4:1

Control Assets – acquire assets to create passive income streams

Wealthy does not put all their money in the stock market.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

More Info on WFL and Tax Free Matching: HERE

Learn about Accumulation Annuities: https://wealthforlife.net/recovery/

 

 

Wealth For Life Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Wealth+For+Life

 

Link to Taxes Show on 10/31/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Offense / Defense Show on 6/6/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Shows, Denver was a Guest: Here

 

Investing Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/investing

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

Cannabis Industry Post Legalization from Investing, 280E, MSOs, M&A & more... w/ Melissa Diaz & Alan Brochstein

- BRT S03 EP53 (152) 10-23-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• Cannabis restricted in Biz Ops w/ Tax Code 280E listing as Schedule 1 Narcotic, no write offs
• Political Landscape & the possibility of Reschedule as a lesser drug (Sched 3)
• Covid Economy - did demand for Cannabis spike w/ Pandemic, what is state of the biz & sales now?
• M&A, Safe Banking Act, MSOs & more.....

 

 

 

Guest: Melissa Diaz w/ Rebel Rock

- customized accounting solutions, HR, and M&A for the Cannabis industry in AZ

https://rebelrock.co/melissa-diaz/

 

Melissa’s accounting experience as a CPA spans numerous industries, both domestically & internationally, including healthcare, hospitality and, of course, Cannabis. In addition to co-founding and serving as CFO to Rebel Rock, Melissa is CFO and Shareholder for High Rock Accounting, which places an emphasis on utilizing technology to strategically make day-to-day and long-term financial decisions, while pursuing company goals and compliancy. At High Rock and Rebel Rock, Melissa helps companies remain competitive and efficient in increasingly high-pressure and high-stakes environments. Starting in 2016 she started branching out into the Cannabis industry.

 

 

 

Alan Brochstein CFA of New Cannabis Ventures

https://www.newcannabisventures.com/

New Cannabis Ventures is a news & information platform offered by NCV Media, LLC that highlights promising companies and influential investors in the cannabis industry. NCV is a cannabis-centric marketing & communications company.

 

 

Notes:

Melissa Diaz – 1st Half

Melisa, Melissa has a background in corporate accounting. She got involved in the cannabis industry in 2016. AZ – Cannabis for  medicinal was legalized in 2014, and  in 2020 recreational use was legalized.

Cultivation farming was more profitable back in 2020, while the consumer base increased, but reduction in price, now retail is more profitable

Arizona licenses vertically integrated – 1. cultivation 2. processing 3. retail (sell to consumers),  you have the opportunity to lease out rights to use license

There is limited license in Arizona, only a count of estimated 146, so high purchase price possibly 20 mil+ to get a license, vs Colorado, much different, unlimited licenses with 1500+ already license in Colorado, little value, cost around $15K

Cannabis has more supply in Colorado, led to lower prices, it’s a downward push on prices, & puts pressure on the cannabis industry in price per pound, where as in Arizona the price per pound is $1000 - $1500, only $500 in Colorado

MSO stands for multi state operator

M&A activity has lessened in cannabis, as there’s been liquidity restrictions, with interest rates on the rise, and overall just less capital to the industry

Lending has tightened and it cost more to get money, which is good for lenders who want to loan money, but many avoid the cannabis industry because of the risk

Debt is more expensive in cannabis, only state chartered banks in Arizona to get loans. A lot of the banks do not give loans. Usually you have to use 3td party lenders with higher interest rates at 12% and higher on the interest rate.

Before interest rates went up, even with real estate backing, it was 15 to 23% interest rates, in October 2022 could go to equity markets for money

Cannabis companies were up for sale circa 2018 as there was a bubble and they could not pay the debt. In 2022 we could see a repeat of this.

Safe banking act has failed 7x, No federal banking for cannabis.

Cannabis is a schedule 1 controlled substance, no different than heroin. The President has talked of moving it to his schedule three or not schedule at all. This can be done through a congressional act or a recommendation to the FTA, then recommendation to the DEA then it would be re-scheduled to a lower level, but ETA could be 1 to 2 years.

How do you advise companies in the meantime. If they have the 280 E tax code removed if it is a scheduled 3 - There would be less tax burdens and lots of profitability for future cannabis business.

280 E tax at gross margin, can only write off direct expenses. By comparison, to normal business does $1 mil in sales and can write off direct and indirect expenses. This creates a problem for cannabis companies where it looks like they have ‘phantom income’ and their tax on income they did not even receive.

It is very common that business people and investors do not even know about the 280 E problem in Cannabis. Management companies can be used to move some expenses

Cannabis Tax - services and goods in cannabis is more expensive as there is more risk and paperwork, and regulation, overall just more complicated. So it cost the cannabis company more for accounting, insurance, legal, banking etc.

You need a good advisor team & trusted Network for help. You also need aspirin as it cost a lot in business and money to cure problems, hence advisers are like ‘business aspirin’.

Cannabis clients need a white glove service very hands-on.

Random story on cannabis from New York. - Adult use rules are very unclear which creates opportunities for people to sell illegally and not through a licensed authority

 Example: in New York, operators are selling through food trucks

 

 

Alan Brochstein – 2nd Half

Cannabis currently is in a bear market which creates a purchase opportunity.

Alan Brockstein create a new cannabis ventures in 2015.

Government policies and legal issues currently are crippling the cannabis industry, as they do not know the long term legality and tax policies. One example is safe banking and taxes. Ironically lobbying money in cannabis is low.

Cannabis has 80% tax rate on real profit because tax is on gross profit because of 280E tax code. Cannabis companies may be profitable, but taxed high, so they wind up losing money. Canadian cannabis companies are legal with high tax rates which are normal and in Canada.

WM Tech, Weedmaps, $10 stock down to $1, does big business in California profitable, but trouble collecting money.

Big five top MSO‘s like Verano, Green Thumb, Cresco Labs, Curaleaf and Trulieve

Per Alan, you have 4 Tiers of cannabis companies and stocks.

He believes Curaleaf is too expensive price wise

Tier 2: Ascend, Air Wellness, TerrAscend, Columbia Care.

States like Texas going forward have mass potential for cannabis.

California currently is a very tough market. Illinois has court issues with licenses,  Michigan seems to be a state going well.

VC and funding is tight right now with capital borrowing. What you see often with startup companies is a sale leaseback. The lending company buys the asset, and leases it back. Tough to work this out as it’s hard to build cannabis cultivation facilities.

REIT for real estate are popular in cannabis, not just a IIPR (Industrial Properties)  TerrAscend got a loan at 6.5% in 2020, and 12.8% floating rate loan in 2022.

President spoke on cannabis early in October 2022. There was talk of federal prison release on low level drug charges as well as the 280 E tax rate in cannabis - this code can only deduct cost of goods nothing else this could change with legislative action or reschedule to 3, minor drug versus schedule 1as a major drug.

This is possible, which would lead to tax breaks, less risk, and companies could list publicly and get better funding

State Level - changes with cannabis has good movement as public sentiment and the majority overall are in favor.

Cannabis started in 2021 well, but by spring of 2021 it’s been down and currently remains down late in 2022. Funding is down, liquidity is tight - with cannabis you have low liquidity plus high risk.

This has created a bear market for cannabis stocks that have been hit hard, but also creates a buying opportunity for investors.

There was a Covid economy with cannabis created lots of demand which has now leveled out post Covid. There’s lots of suppliers, but now with demand down prices are also down.

Less M&A activity because the capital markets are tight. Verano holdings big time MSO had a deal for goodness growth which got called off and the stock went down 66%.

Technical analysis on cannabis stock says they’re oversold the price versus 150 day moving average, so median of 35% down, five biggest stocks in Cannabis are down 62% to 80%.

Cannabis stocks hit high price points in February 2020, & are down 65% year to date in 2022, they were down 25% in 2021 and hitting lows since 2013. Global cannabis stock index can be reviewed at new cannabis ventures

 

 

 

 

 Cannabis Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Cannabis-Hemp-Marijuana

 

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

BRT Game Night - The Saban Process + the History of the World Series w/ NYT National Baseball writer Tyler Kepner - BRT S03 EP52 (151) 10-16-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• Business of Baseball Drafting Players to Analytics, & How the game has evolved  
• History of World Series – Game Changers - Did babe Ruth call his shot?
• The Process – Nick Saban’s success formula to focus on the moment, and being more fundamental & sound for each play
• Sports Gambling – who are the big players in the industry from sports books to Casinos
• Chess Strategy – how to train the mind to make better decisions

 

 

Guests:

TYLER KEPNER is the author of the New York Times bestseller K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches. He has covered every World Series game of the last two decades for The New York Times. He started his career as a teenager, interviewing players for a homemade magazine in the early 1990s. He attended Vanderbilt University on the Grantland Rice/Fred Russell sportswriting scholarship, then covered the Angels for the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise and the Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He joined The New York Times in 2000, covering the Mets for two seasons, the Yankees for eight, and serving as the national baseball writer since 2010. 

From the New York Times bestselling author of K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, a highly entertaining, revelatory history of the World Series, filled with gripping behind-the-scenes stories from 117 years of the Fall Classic. 

The World Series is the most enduring showcase in American team sports. It’s the place where legends are made, where celebration and devastation can hinge on a fly ball off a foul pole or a grounder beneath a first baseman’s glove. And there’s no one better to bring this rich history to life than New York Times national baseball columnist Tyler Kepner, whose bestselling book about pitching, K, was lauded as “Michelangelo explaining the brush strokes on the Sistine Chapel” by Newsday. In seven scintillating chapters, Kepner delivers an indelible portrait of baseball’s signature event. He digs deep for essential tales dating back to the beginning in 1903, adding insights from Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Jim Palmer, Dennis Eckersley and many others who have thrived – and failed – when it mattered most. 

Why do some players, like Madison Bumgarner, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, crave the pressure? How do players handle a dream that comes up short? What’s it like to manage in the World Series, and what are the secrets of building a champion? Kepner celebrates unexpected heroes like Bill Wambsganss, who pulled off an unassisted triple play in 1920, probes the mysteries behind magic moments (Did Babe Ruth call his shot in 1932? How could Eckersley walk Mike Davis to get to Kirk Gibson in 1988?) and busts some long-time myths (the 1919 Reds were much better than the Black Sox, anyway). 

The result is a vivid portrait of baseball at its finest and most intense, filled with humor, lore, analysis and fascinating stories. THE GRANDEST STAGE is the ultimate history of the World Series, the perfect gift for all the fans who feel their hearts pounding in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/by/tyler-kepner

 

@TylerKepner

 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634030/the-grandest-stage-by-tyler-kepner/?ref=PRHC184D6440

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Tyler Kepner wrote the grander stage the history of the World Series about baseballs October classic. Is the New York Times national baseball radar and has a background in being a bit writer for teams.

He’s originally from Philly. He was an intern at the Boston Globe and then the Washington post. Got a job out of college covering the Angels. Then got a job covering the Seattle Mariners for a newspaper in Seattle. In 2000 he got a job at the New York Times covering the mats for two years. Then he was covering the Yankees for eight years. 2010 he became the New York Times national baseball writer.

Writing the book on the history of the World Series was a lifelong goal. He had written a previous book about pitching called K. The book was a three-year project to write. Tyler has covered 24 World Series dating back to 1998 as well as gone to two as a fan, 1983 series with the Phillies as a kid and then 1993.

Tyler always follows good stories for his baseball writing. The 2022 baseball playoffs started in St. Louis to see about Albert polos last games. Then moved on to cover the New York Yankees. And then he’s going to see the Seattle Mariners as they are in the playoffs for the first time in years.

TV ratings for baseball have been decent. Still gets very good ratings in local markets. Baseball like other sports is still live programming and and they jam of TV. Sports creates appointment setting type TV.

When you cover baseball as a rider, you will go to the ball park about 2 PM for a 7 PM game. He would mall around the stadium and clubhouse talk with players the manager may be the GM.

Most days he’s writing, with a deadline by the night time to be able to post by the next day. Player access in baseball is pretty open, it’s an every day business and they give the media plenty of room to work.

Tyler missed game seven of the 2001 World Series in Arizona versus the Yankees because of a family commitment.

Baseball business as no hard salary cap, just some luxury taxes. It is expensive to build a team as you need free agents but also good scouting and player development. There’s a lot of have and have Nots. Many of the smaller teams like the Oakland A’s I’ve had player stolen by big teams like the Yankees or the Red Sox, almost acting like farm systems for the bigger teams.

Baseball has changed over the years with the introduction of analytics and stats that now dominate the game. The teams that use at the best and can communicate the info to the players usually win.

A great example of this is the GM of the Dodgers Andrew Friedman, who previously had been the GM of the Tampa Bay rays. Dodgers are well run team have a little bit of a small team mentality where they draft and develop players well, but also of the big resources and money to get the free agents.

Teams have to convince the players how data will help their game. It isn’t that hard since the new generation has been raised on their cell phones and data. The idea being a singing how are you can swing better, or what is a better pitch for a pitcher to use so that players can play well.

Older guys in baseball lament the analytics and how it’s changed the game.

Amateur players understand how they have to do well on the metrics, and how hard they hit the ball, and swing playing in velocity. The older scouts and baseball people dislike the fact that it’s not about moving the runner over in contact anymore.

The game has evolved and the analytics and the data shows you what you need to do to win.

Sports, including baseball is good for TV because it has live programming and people still watch live programming. Baseball games still may take longer but they still get OK national ratings and very good local ratings.

Baseball is working on a little changes for more balls in the way and excitement. There is a lot of home runs and strikeouts right now.

Baseball making some rule changes to affect us like regulating the shift and how the defense fields, changes to the baseball and maybe bigger bases to encourage base running aggressiveness in more stolen bases as examples.

Billy Beane of Moneyball and the Oakland A’s popularized baseball analytics and data. Been had a classic line I pay you to get on base, not to get caught stealing. No risky place.

Tyler wanted to write World Series stories that people don’t know. An example is what happened in the next game after Don Larsen throws a perfect game for the Dodgers. What happened to setup Kirk Gibson home run in 1988 vs As

Tyler loves the art of pitching and the slider and the knuckleball. He had written a previous book K the history of baseball and 10 pitches.

Did Babe Ruth call his shot? That is the legend, but it is not true. Babe Ruth told the Cubs he was going to do some thing, but did not point at offense. Back then the cubs pitchers would’ve thrown at Babe Ruth if he was showboating like that.

 

 

Seg 1:

Nick Saban – The Process

Head Coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, has more than 250 wins, & 7 national titles

 

His coaching philosophy centers on a mental model called “process thinking” — or as he calls it: “The Process.” With links to behavioral psychology, process thinking is a framework that emphasizes preparation over the prize. Each step of a process is executed with diligence and precision, the desired outcome becomes all but inevitable.

Nick Saban’s was a the Coach at Michigan State University, where he created the Process with the help of a Psych professor named Dr. Lionel Rosen. The main idea was to win individual moments, can you be better than your opponent for 7 seconds (1 play). If your play is consistently better 7 seconds at a time, the score takes care of itself.

 

Saban’s philosophy of practicing well, and operating within the Process system. He uses mental models to simplify the complex, and focus on the details.

 

Mental models are frameworks we use to examine problems, make decisions, and understand the world. As Farnam Street’s Shane Parrish explains:

 

“Not only do they shape what we think and how we understand, but they shape the connections and opportunities that we see. Mental models are how we simplify complexity, why we consider some things more relevant than others, and how we reason.”

 

Train people (employees) to think within the system. You cannot have a system for all things. There will always be situations that arise that were not thought of, but systems and checklists will cover 80 – 90% of what employee will face.

Look at the New England Patriots in sports – same coach (Bill Belichick), system, but different players for 15 years, and yet the same Super Bowl winning results. Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban (multiple college championships) is a big believer in systems and process. Saban also happens to be a former assistant of Belichick.

Bill Walsh, the legendary football coach of the San Francisco 49ers created the west coast offense. It was all about the system, and timing of the passing game to setup the entire offense. Walsh was known for taking average Quarterbacks and producing above average results (and winning).

Walsh was so organized he scripted the first 15 plays of the game. He created the idea of ‘situational football’. He had certain plays for certain moments within a game, like the last 2 minutes of a game, etc. Many teams copied the 49ers system, and this changed how the game was played in the late 1980s to even today’s football. What is common today in football, did not exist before Walsh.

 

More on Saban and recruiting the best –

Dave Kline telling a story of how Saban is a master recruiter.

Football players can go somewhere else and play an Alabama 1x / year. Or they can go to Alabama and practice and play vs Alabama everyday. Over the long term the level of competition just on the team propels a player to greatness and the Pro level of the NFL.

 

Clips from BRT Management Accelerator w/ Dave Kline

- BRT S03 EP44 (143) 9-11-2022

 

Guest: Dave Kline

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkline/

https://maven.com/dave-kline/new-manager-accelerator

Bio: (x-Bridgewater Associates, x-Moody’s Analytics, x-PwC Consulting) has run large, global strategic and operational teams for the last 2 decades. He has a BSEE from Bucknell University and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School. Find him on Twitter @dklineii or LinkedIn, writing about management tactics, leadership lessons, and the evolution of online learning.

 

Your Codified Management Playbook

Convert your intuition to intention and develop your system to lead high-performing teams.  Develop the CODE of your management system: coach, operate, delegate, & engage.  Leave with a decision making system tailored to your individual management style.

 

How A Manager Creates Value

We start with a foundation of what makes managers unique: mindsets to master, abilities to develop, skills to hone.

 

Recruit High Performance Teams

We examine optimal role designs for different functions and tactics required to attract and retain the best talent.

 

 

The machine of an organization is a combo of people and processes to get outcomes. You see what works, you measure and you get feedback. It’s all about design, then test, then iterate. You want to determine what’s predictive to become a system.

The Bridgewater investing philosophy was on macro trends, fundamental basis, and long term. Long-term thinking also is part of their culture and processes.

The average investor, it’s tough to compete with big hedge funds, who have armies of people and data. Single investor really does not have those types of resources to compete. Single investor if they take the long term, get good at capital preservation and wait.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

Seg. 4:

 

Topic: AZ Legalized Sports Gambling 

Adam Candee w/ Legal Sports Report

https://www.legalsportsreport.com/arizona/

Clips from Seg 3 of 5/9/2021

Full Show: Here 

 

AZ has just legalized sports gambling, and it is due to go live in the Fall of 2021

Adam Candee is a radio host and journalist who runs the top sports gambling info websites / podcast - Legal Sports Report (.com). He joins the show to talk all things sports gambling. We cover AZ and all of the other states (like NY) who just passed the initiative also, and potential tax revenues.

We talk the big players (Draft Kings, Barstool Sports) and the casinos who have thrown their hat in – Caesars, MGM. 

Adam tells of the history of sports gambling in the US, the growth of offshore books in the 1990s, and what we can learn from Europe’s sports betting market the last 20 years.

 

European operators moved to US, Betfair, Bet 365 ‘in play betting’ in NJ

Betfair – Andrew Black – Rich Koch invested

Flooder – Sky Bet   Post Bet (Australian)

Patty Power owns Fan Duel

 

Draft Kings

Fan Duel partners with Phx Suns – Sports book in Suns arena in Fall 2021

Vegas – casinos, Caesars & MGM – growth with sports betting

Growth by acquisition (M&A) Caesars buys William Hill

$55 billion market in U.S. estimated, Oct. 20 $3 billion / month, global $465 billion

Draft Kings - $57 / stock 

Barstool sports book, Penn National Gaming (owns 36%)

 

 

Topic: Chess, Poker, Business & the Queen’s Gambit' w/ Jennifer Shahade

 

Clips from Seg 2 of 2/7/2021

Full Show: Here 

 

https://jennifershahade.com/,

https://new.uschess.org/

https://new.uschess.org/give/women-chess-initiative

Podcasts: https://thepokergrid.com/

https://ladiesknight.org/

 

Jennifer Shahade is a two-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, author, speaker & PokerStars Ambassador.  The first female to win the US Junior Open, Jennifer is passionate about empowerment and creative work around the games she loves most, chess and poker. She is the author of Chess Queens, and Play Like a Girl, books that, along with her work with US Chess Women and Poker Poker, are making the games more inclusive. 

 

Chess can have a long learning curve, and improvements can take time, then suddenly it comes together. There are tons of free resources online for both kids and adults to learn online.

Decision Making / Strategy – it’s about making the Right Moves at the Critical Moments, possibly in the Middle Game and lots of pieces are being traded, so you should think longer at these moments. Life Analogy – there are many small decisions daily that have little impact on your life vs those Big Decisions that affect many areas of your life long term.

Jennifer’s Prep for a Game is: 1. getting focused, 2. taking a walk before a game (as she will be sitting for hours, and 3. not eating too much. The Sicilian is Jennifer’s favorite opening. She likes classical chess vs speed chess. She describes herself as creative, and methodical in her chess moves.

Learn to Say No, Focus More - do not be so agreeable that your time is taken up with too many minor projects. A Mindset of Restraint.

Get a Coach or Mentor, what you study & how you study it is sometimes more important than the info learned – the process, use your time well to learn more in shorter time windows.

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this show, you may like:

 

BRT Sports:  HERE

 

BRT Marketing: HERE

 

BRT Business: HERE

 

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

Wealth for Life Concepts - Offense / Defense, Assets, Leverage & Control 3 Things

 

BRT S03 EP51 (150) 10-14-2022 – Wealth for Life

 

Things We Learned This Week

• Offense / Defense - Balance in a Financial Plan – Synergy of the Mix

• Assets – Difference between Appreciating & Harvesting
• Leverage – Get More w/ Less to Scale Wealth
• Control 3 Things – Taxes, Capital, & Assets – Tax Protection, Acquire Assets, & Access to Capital  

 

Co-Host: Denver Nowicz, President - Wealth For Life

https://wealthforlife.net/brt/

https://twitter.com/denvernowicz 

Denver is an advisor with nearly 20 years experience working with clients in investments and insurance, designing retirement plans with a combo of both. He takes us through different strategies for clients to get the best allocations for their money over the long term. It is the Combo Strategy of both Offense and Defense, the synergy of the mix, not ‘All or Nothing’.

 

 

Notes: 

 

Beware Taxes! Defense is What You Need vs Offense in Your Investment Gameplan

 

Synergy of Offense / Defense – diversification of income streams, lessen market risk

 

Offense – stocks, crypto, real estate

Defense - IUL, Cash Flowing Business, Real estate, bonds, dividend stocks

Offense – tactical – hold 15-20 stocks – aka ‘best houses on the block’

Tactical Investment Strategy – goal of growth, shift with market sentiment, value to growth or growth to cyclical – active management.  15% beat market, 85% do not.

Secular trends – housing, building or energy

Index – safe but will not out perform market, just bought off shelf.

Index has Market risk and Zombie Co. problem.

Cash = bad, gets eaten up by inflation = Inflation risk

Stock market – good at growth, but inefficient on income, hard to capture the gains

 “One Thing” Retirement Plan – 401K and stocks, hope it goes up and no volatility (market risk). 90% of people are on this plan.

Build Assets – or create assets, like a digital brand

Never go back to Vegas with scared money. Lose $, then chasing losses

Combine offensive and defensive strategies

 

Defense – wins championships, stable. Finances are stable, allows you to take risks IUL, CF business. During bad market, wait for stocks to rebound and pull money from IUL or business.

Visual – what is needed income or expenses – cover basics, then invest other money. Defense = 40%

More wealth created, less money in market – money from business or real estate, move money to index strategies. Use financial leverage to increase wealth.

Average worker – salary and money in market (401 K). All money is offensive strategy and subject to disruption and market risk.

Defense – Tax Protection and Tax Buckets 3 taxed, tax free, tax deferred

 

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

Assets – Appreciating vs. Harvesting

 

Assets: Appreciating vs. Harvesting  

There are many different Assets you can invest in. Common asset classes are Stocks, Bonds, Gold & Real Estate. There are Alternative assets like Crypto, Art, Private Equity, etc.

The classic idea is you  buy an asset as an investment with the idea it will appreciate over time so it is worth more when you sell it.  Buy low, sell high. It also may act as a hedge vs inflation. Instead of having your money sit in cash, and lose money to inflation, you purchase an asset that goes up in value more than inflation. What is rarely discussed is the concept of Appreciating Assets vs. Harvesting Assets. What's the difference? Appreciating Assets are the assets mentioned above, where the plan is to buy low, wait for the appreciation, then sell high. You do not capture the gains until you sell. You gain value on paper, but if you wait too long to sell, you could miss the appreciation. Likewise if they lose value but you do not sell, then only a paper loss.  Stocks are a classic example. 'If I just sold last month, I would have made 25%, instead of 15%.' You have to time it right. Other examples are Gold, Art, most Crypto, certain types of Real Estate (Land for example with nothing build on it yet).  These assets are only valuable when they appreciate, and if you sell at the right time.  Harvesting Assets are assets that get interest, or give off profits, or cash flow. You are able to capture some of the gains from the asset.  Examples are:

• Rental Real Estate - get rental income, plus expense write offs, plus depreciation ***
• Bonds - collect interest during the term, and receive the full value if held the entire term ***
• Dividend Stocks - receive payments quarterly from the co. ***
• REITs - pays out 90% of income as dividends to investors ***
• Crypto that is Staked - receive interest payments while staking ***
• Covered Call Options - collecting premium on stocks you own, by renting them out ***
• Business - that is profitable, and gives off cash flow
• Index Life Insurance - receive credited interest during the term

*** Asset value can go up or down in the holding period In fact many of the above Harvesting examples can all be both Appreciating and Harvesting Assets: Rental Real Estate, Bonds, Dividend Stocks, REITs, Cash Flowing Business, Index life Insurance, etc.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

Leverage - Get More with Less Effort – How to Scale Wealth

Leverage – more with less. Get More with Less Effort.

Ex: job with W2 income – no leverage, all based on single effort, cannot multiply.

Sole proprietor – limited leverage, one person can do so much.

Systems to multiply efforts – can be digital, team, finances

 

Financial leverage – mortgage. Buy house ($250K) for cash, or buy $1 million dollar house, put down same $250K at 25% , now control $1 million asset house. 

75% leverage or 3 to 1. What plan will earn you more money? $1 million house appreciates more.

Digital Product – create 1 time, sell 100 times

 

Average invest $1 and have $1 earning, wealthy invest $1, borrow $3 and have $4 earning interest

Use OPM and deploy in safe ways.

Safer return on larger investment will win every time

Average using own money and risky, chase rate of return. Wealthy take more money and put in safer return instead of chasing 12% ROI on $250K, get 6% ROI on $1 million using leverage.

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

 

You Need to Control 3 Things in Investing – Taxes, Capital & Assets

 

Investing plan for Top 10% of income earners ($150K +) or top 5% ($250K +)

Need different strategies, not just 401K or stocks, not like other 90% of population

Wealthy diversify their assets / investments, stock market is just 25% of their investing

Control taxes – protect money from taxes

Control Capital - access to capital – use leverage properly at 4:1

Control Assets – acquire assets to create passive income streams

Wealthy does not put all their money in the stock market.

Every $1 lost to taxes = $8 in lost wealth

$1 at 7% (rule of 72), at 10 yrs = $2, at 20 yrs = $4, at 30yrs = $8

$50K lost = $400K (x8) lost over the long term

If you earn over $500K / year +, top 1% of income earners

The ultra wealthy know that you have to control taxes.

401K does not reduce taxes, it defers taxes, and at $25K /yr, this will not move the needle enough, need major changes to reduce taxes, and propel wealth  

Control Capital – protect principal, no losses, lock in gains

Use Leverage well at a 4:1 multiple, Control $4 with $1 

Just like you finance your house thru a mortgage, finance your retirement (mortgage leverage is typically 3:1, loan is 3x your yearly income) 

Deploy different strategies to grow wealth and make $ millions, really scale wealth from $1 to $5 mil, or $5 to $10 mil

Assets –pull money from passive income & use for more investing

Create investing cycle and repeat to grow wealth

 

Full Show: HERE

 

 

 

More Info on WFL and Tax Free Matching: HERE

 

 

Wealth For Life Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Wealth+For+Life

 

Link to Taxes Show on 10/31/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Offense / Defense Show on 6/6/2021 w/ Denver: Here

Link to Shows, Denver was a Guest: Here

 

Investing Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/investing

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.

 

Hollywood + Marketing, Pixar Story Rules, Rule of 3 & Flash Gordon Himself, Sam Jones + Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell - BRT S03 EP50 (149) 10-9-2022

 

What We Learned This Week

• Pixar Story Rules – How a biz can use the Power of Stories in Mktg
• Sam Jones – of Flash Gordon fame, co-star of Ted, Movies, TV
• Bruce Campbell – of Evil Dead fame does it all, Movies, TV, & Hallmark TV Movies
• Rule of Three (3) – Complex Ideas, Stories, Events broken down into 3s is more Memorable & Effective.

 

 

Guests:

SAM J. JONES is best known as FLASH GORDON (1980) in the Dino De Laurentis cult classic film of the same name, beating out Kurt Russell and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role. He has over 65 films and hundreds of TV shows to his credits. He is currently co-starring in the movie AN UNLIKELY ANGEL, streaming on Pure Flix (www.pureflix.com) on August 26th with Jillian Murray (Sonny with a Chance), Aaron Mees (Christmas in the Pines) and Robert Amaya (Courageous).

 

Sam was born in Chicago but grew up in Sacramento, CA. He played football in the Marine Corp. and afterwards started acting in films including 10 (as Bo Derek's husband) and later as Flash Gordon in TED and TED 2 (Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane). His acting resume includes HBO's 1st & Ten, The A-Team, Baywatch, Diagnosis: Murder and Walker Texas Ranger.

 

Sam is best known as the Flash Gordon which required him to do many of his own stunts in the film. He worked alongside Timothy Dalton (who would later play James Bond).

 

Sam has endured the high and lows of a Hollywood career (including financial loss, divorce and depression) - when his acting roles paused he became a trained security professional. He appears regularly at comic book conventions. He also created the VOD documentary on his life titled Life After Flash

 

Sam is the father of five children and married to his wife Ramona Lynn. Social media: @RealSamJJones Facebook: SameJJonesOfficial

 

MOVIE OVERVIEW: AN UNLIKELY ANGEL

 

An Unlikely Angel is a heart-warming story about a successful NYC toy executive Janie Caswell (Murray) who faces her biggest challenge yet; being a mom. Although she is fully in control in the boardroom, she is a complete wreck at the thought of becoming a mom. She is afraid she will get it all wrong, or worse, get it right and then suffer the same illness that took her mom away from her so early in life.

 

Through an answer to prayer and the help of a New York Cabbie/angel (Robert Amaya), Janie gets a chance to see what her life could be in the future. Janie realizes that the baby years go by fast, and childhood is too precious a time to waste. Janie is miraculously offered the chance of a "do-over" and relishes every moment of being a wife and new mom.

 

Here's the trailer:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzKCphl2-z4 

 

 

 

Guest: Bruce Campbell of THE EVIL DEAD, ARMY OF DARKNESS & the new film BLACK FRIDAY

https://www.bruce-campbell.com/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0132257/

 

Bruce Campbell has been an actor in Hollywood for 40 years, starring in movies and TV. He started with the low budget Cult Classic horror series Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi.  He then starred in many more movies including, Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Congo and more, plus cameos in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. His TV credits include, X-Files, Brisco County Jr, Hercules, Evil Dead, Burn Notice, and more. His most recent movies (both premiering in the 2021 Holidays) are Black Friday, and Hallmark Mystery Movie - One December Night, co-starring Peter Gallagher. 

ABOUT BLACK FRIDAY, IN THEATERS & ON DEMAND NOVEMBER 19th (2021)

On Thanksgiving night, a group of disgruntled toy store employees begrudgingly arrive for work to open the store at midnight for the busiest shopping day of the year. Meanwhile, an alien parasite crashes to Earth in a meteor. This group of misfits led by store manager Jonathan (Bruce Campbell) and longtime employee Ken (Devon Sawa) soon find themselves battling against hordes of holiday shoppers who have been turned into monstrous creatures hellbent on a murderous rampage on Black Friday.

Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3H5Ye2BvUk

 

 

Notes:

 

Power of the Story - Lessons from Pixar 

Marketing has shifted from running ad campaigns to social media. This requires connection with followers who may become your customers. But, how do you connect? The connection is made thru your content, and how your followers engage and enjoy it. Or reject and ignore it.  Human Beings have engaged with stories for a millennium or longer. Good content = good story telling. Understanding that people want to connect with people and a good narrative.  Now you need to learn how to tell a story. There's a company you can study that does a pretty good job at it, goes by the name Pixar.  There are elements to every good story, and sometimes even a guide to how it's done.  Here are Pixar's rules... Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling   These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number nine on the list — when you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next — is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres. 1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.   2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.   3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about ’til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.   4. Once up on a time there was _____. Every day, _____. One day _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____.   5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.   6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal? FULL LIST: HERE Apparently there's a Rule 23: Rule #23: There are no Rules except Rule #23.  This is all really important to keep in mind as you create your stories; rules are often accumulated wisdom from generations of people learning what works and what doesn't.  But in a creative field, sticking only to the rules is staid and boring. Find out how they came up with Rule 23: HERE

 

 

 

Rule of Three (3) is Everywhere

 

What do a Play, Chess Game, Magic Trick & The Slogan in the Declaration of Independence all have in Common?

Play – 3 Acts, Setup, the Confrontation, & the Resolution

Chess Game – 3 Phases, Opening, Middlegame, Endgame

Magic Trick – 3 Parts, Pledge, Turn, Prestige

Declaration of Independence – 3 Word Slogan, Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

Do you see a pattern?

‘Omne trium perfectum’ - from Latin, means ‘Everything that comes in Threes (3) is Perfect’

Rule of Three (3)

People look for patterns, and three things is the smallest amount to have for a pattern. The Rule of Three has a natural feel to it, since it is so engrained in so many things we commonly see. People can typically remember 3 or 4 things, so a shorter list does not confuse.

Complex Ideas, Stories, or Events broken down into 3s is more Memorable & Effective. I believe there is also something subconscious we like with simple math. Math and geometry underpin many things (design, architecture, city planning, etc), so we see it, but do not see it. 

How widespread is the Rule of Three?

 

Article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rule-three-3-everywhere-matthew-battaglia/

 

 

If you enjoyed this show, you may like:

BRT Hollywood: HERE

BRT Marketing: HERE

 

BRT Business: HERE

More - BRT Best of: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+Of

 

 

Thanks for Listening.

Please Subscribe to the BRT Podcast. 

 

 

Business Roundtable with Matt Battaglia

The show where Entrepreneurs, High Level Executives, Business Owners, and Investors come to share insight and ideas about the future of business. BRT 2.0 looks at the new trends in business, and how classic industries are evolving. 

Common Topics Discussed: Business, Entrepreneurship, Investing, Stocks, Cannabis, Tech, Blockchain / Crypto, Real Estate, Legal, Sales, Charity, and more… 

BRT Podcast Home Page: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/

‘Best Of’ BRT Podcast: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Google: Click Here

BRT Podcast on Spotify: Click Here                   

More Info: https://www.economicknight.com/podcast-brt-home/

KFNX Info: https://1100kfnx.com/weekend-featured-shows/

 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the Hosts, Guests and Speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent (or affiliates, members, managers, employees or partners), or any Station, Podcast Platform, Website or Social Media that this show may air on. All information provided is for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing said on this program should be considered advice or recommendations in: business, legal, real estate, crypto, tax accounting, investment, etc. Always seek the advice of a professional in all business ventures, including but not limited to: investments, tax, loans, legal, accounting, real estate, crypto, contracts, sales, marketing, other business arrangements, etc.