Talk To Todd Podcast

Pat Giblin was building AI-powered products long before ChatGPT made it a household word. He co-founded TheGolfer.com in 1996, founded 451 Degrees in 2003, and holds five issued U.S. patents for AI technology that reads comments and reviews to understand what people actually want. Todd sits down with Pat to ask the question everyone's asking: is AI something to fear, or the biggest opportunity of our lifetime? Pat's answer is clear — and he's been in the room long enough to back it up. They get into the day an ad company showed Pat exactly where he'd been that morning, what Google really knows about you, why data centers are the new highways, and why UC San Diego has hundreds of inventions sitting on the shelf for lack of funding. CHAPTERS 0:00 Meet Pat Giblin 1:32 Growing up in San Diego 2:03 "You knew about AI before AI knew about AI" 3:06 Leaving law school for TheGolfer.com 7:15 Why being first is sometimes the worst 8:18 Working in TV — and getting fired 10:23 Founding 451 Degrees and the five patents 18:11 Brake, gas, or steering wheel? 20:18 Is AI good or dangerous? 25:30 What Google really knows about you 27:42 "We know where you were this morning" 31:23 Data centers, energy, and what's next 36:00 UC San Diego's Horizon Accelerator 39:07 900 inventions, under 40 companies 40:44 The Shores Fund and building San Diego 42:51 Silicon Valley's beehive vs. San Diego 49:01 What's coming out of UCSD right now 53:40 How to reach Pat 54:42 Where AI will be in five years ABOUT PAT Pat Giblin is the founder and principal of 451 Degrees and serves on the advisory board of UC San Diego's Horizon Accelerator. He co-founded TheGolfer.com, holds five issued U.S. patents in AI, and has taught AI and entrepreneurship at UC San Diego. Horizon Accelerator: [email protected] The Shores Fund: [email protected] ABOUT THE SHOW Talk to Todd is a conversation with the people who actually build and run things. Todd Ledet is a business owner himself, so the questions come from someone who's had the same hard months you have. Recorded in San Diego. WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? We're looking for business owners — especially people in their first few years. One hour, no cost, and you leave with footage you can use for your own business. [email protected] #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Entrepreneurship #SanDiego #StartupLife #TalkToTodd

Patrick got into the New Orleans hotel business at the right moment and turned one property into twenty. But the thing that actually built it wasn't timing. When he started, a $49 room was $49 every night of the year. Same price on a Tuesday in August as during a convention. Nobody charged more for a weekend. Then the airlines got deregulated, figured out how to price seats differently by flight and by day — and Patrick was one of the first people to bring that thinking to hotels. That's what let him grow. He also sat down with Todd Ledet at Genesis of San Diego and talked about what hospitality actually is, which is the reason this podcast exists in the first place. Todd's argument: the car business has a black eye, and the fix isn't a better negotiation — it's treating the experience the way a hotel does. Patrick's answer: everybody has a clean room. Everybody has air conditioning. Hospitality is what happens on top of that, and it starts with the first person a guest meets. IN THIS EPISODE - How he went from one hotel to twenty - Pricing: why every room used to cost the same every single day, and what changed - "The most valuable thing I can do with my time is pick the right people" - Why Todd hires character over talent - Building a hotel on Bourbon Street in the old Woolworth building — and why developing a property is the most exhilarating work he's done - Katrina: being there for the storm, and the six months of overdrive that followed - The general manager's impossible job — employees, customers, and the owner - Theming a hotel so it doesn't feel like waking up in a Marriott - Why Todd changed the pay plans when he took over - Life after the business: tennis at 7am, pickleball, six kids, three grandchildren - A long conversation about AI, and what both of them think it does to their industries ABOUT THE SHOW Talk to Todd is a conversation with the people who actually build and run things. Todd Ledet is a business owner himself, so the questions come from someone who's had the same hard months you have. Recorded in San Diego. WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? We're looking for business owners — especially people in their first few years. One hour, no cost, and you leave with footage you can use for your own business. [email protected]

Jeff Schade bought Leucadia Cyclery — a 50-year-old institution in Encinitas — and then almost immediately found out the lease he'd been promised didn't exist.

He was standing in the shop on a Friday morning, doors still closed, waiting for paperwork to sign. At 10:30 the landlord's lawyer called and told him he needed to be out by the end of the day. Fifty years in that location. He offered to prepay three months in cash on the spot. They gave him one week.

He didn't close. He moved service into the back of another shop, kept the customers riding, and found a new home on Coast Highway 101.

Todd Ledet sat down with him at Genesis of San Diego — and the reason this conversation happened at all is a story Todd now tells his own staff. He'd walked into a big bike shop ready to buy, and nobody said hello. He left. A few days later he called a rental place and was told the bikes wouldn't be ready for 45 minutes; when he said he'd try somewhere else, the guy said "good luck."

Then he walked into Jeff's shop. Jeff figured out how to get him three bikes that day and put the rental toward a purchase.

Todd bought three bikes.

IN THIS EPISODE

- The bike shop that ignored a customer holding cash — and the one that didn't

CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

FIND JEFF

Leucadia Cyclery — N Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas

ABOUT THE SHOW

Talk to Todd is a conversation with the people who actually build and run things. Todd Ledet is a business owner himself, so the questions come from someone who's had the same hard months you have. Recorded in San Diego.

WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW?

We're looking for business owners — especially people in their first few years. One hour, no cost, and you leave with footage you can use for your own business.

[email protected]

Watch the full episode: youtube.com/@TalkToTodd

Marty runs the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines — a PGA Tour event with a $5 million build, 1,000 volunteers, 90 vendors, and 11 full-time staff. He started his career folding t-shirts in the Padres team shop.