1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,040 You know, we get back from retail Thursday and Friday. 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:04,919 I didn't really do a good job at going to bed early because I just had so much to do. 3 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:10,740 Friday night, I went to bed at a decent time and I got over seven hours of sleep. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:12,820 My sleep score went down die. 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:14,160 I got a 61. 6 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:20,260 So then last night, I got an 80 and I feel great. 7 00:00:20,539 --> 00:00:21,420 I can tell. 8 00:00:21,740 --> 00:00:22,580 Don't be jolly. 9 00:00:23,460 --> 00:00:26,600 I got a 91 on Thursday night. 10 00:00:26,879 --> 00:00:27,879 Are you kidding me? 11 00:00:28,980 --> 00:00:29,379 Nope. 12 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:49,379 Welcome back to Type A Unhinged, the podcast for the architects of order and the masters of chaos. 13 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:51,780 Welcome back to Type A Unhinged. 14 00:00:51,820 --> 00:00:52,359 Welcome, welcome. 15 00:00:52,719 --> 00:00:53,260 I'm Nate. 16 00:00:53,740 --> 00:00:54,240 I'm Ty. 17 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:57,960 I'm still rubbing the sleepies out of my eyes from our week away. 18 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:03,960 For those that don't know, we're officially back from retail Palm Springs 2026. 19 00:01:05,379 --> 00:01:06,120 I don't know about you, Ty. 20 00:01:06,239 --> 00:01:13,200 I'd say like the polite panic has subsided, but maybe our minds and our to-do lists are still like at that peak post-show panic phase. 21 00:01:14,019 --> 00:01:14,540 Absolutely. 22 00:01:15,519 --> 00:01:26,120 I think, you know, from the expo floor to the agentic AI hype, the nine course Michelin dinner that we had is a lot that I just want to like dive right into. 23 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:27,480 But first. 24 00:01:27,960 --> 00:01:31,780 We have to talk about the ghost that nearly caught us on the hook. 25 00:01:32,500 --> 00:01:36,220 Oh, you mean our friend from the fjord? 26 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:37,540 Yes, exactly. 27 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:48,880 Just as we were getting ready to head to the airport, an email came in that was quite honestly so perfectly aligned with our brand that I almost changed our flight so that our destination was Norway instead. 28 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:50,440 It was too good to be true. 29 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:52,640 It really did feel that way, doesn't it? 30 00:01:52,940 --> 00:01:53,740 Yeah, absolutely. 31 00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:54,740 We were reading it. 32 00:01:54,740 --> 00:01:57,940 I honestly felt like the little girl on Little Miss. 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:04,220 The sunshine as she's getting the voicemail that her like, you know, they're in because I just started getting more and more and more excited. 34 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:06,220 The more that I read, like it was insane. 35 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,960 I want you to imagine the most type A fisherman on the planet. 36 00:02:10,300 --> 00:02:16,480 This email came from a man named Lars, a self-described salmon fisher and efficiency enthusiast. 37 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:18,640 Hello, type A. Unhinged. 38 00:02:19,020 --> 00:02:21,180 Warm greetings from the west coast of Norway. 39 00:02:21,460 --> 00:02:22,960 My name is Lars Henrik Ustby. 40 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,939 I am a salmon fisher and also a devoted listener of your podcast about being type A. 41 00:02:28,719 --> 00:02:30,000 He didn't just want to talk about fish. 42 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:31,540 He wanted to talk about systems. 43 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:38,980 He told us that in salmon fishing, the tide must be studied, the knots must be exact, and even the thermos must be positioned for maximum efficiency. 44 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,860 I mean, it was like he was listening to our task list. 45 00:02:43,319 --> 00:02:44,659 I can never say that. 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,980 Task list apocalypse episode, you know, on repeat. 47 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:48,480 He had to have been. 48 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:49,879 He even offered to join us. 49 00:02:49,879 --> 00:02:57,879 Yeah, like he he offered to join us to discuss precision net deployment and how to maintain excellence while slightly. 50 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,640 Damn, I mean, the details, mate. 51 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,960 So we immediately started revising our roadmap to make room for this, you know, bait shop special. 52 00:03:07,620 --> 00:03:11,780 And so, of course, we hit reply as quickly as possible, ready to coordinate. 53 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,040 And immediately the system spoke back. 54 00:03:14,719 --> 00:03:18,200 The email account you tried to reach does not exist. 55 00:03:18,540 --> 00:03:19,580 Does not exist. 56 00:03:20,719 --> 00:03:21,400 Sad. 57 00:03:21,719 --> 00:03:27,540 Ours was a ghost, a highly specific, perfectly calibrated LLM generated ghost. 58 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,620 They used their own language of organized chaos to to get through to us. 59 00:03:33,340 --> 00:03:35,300 Yeah, we won't let that happen again. 60 00:03:37,180 --> 00:03:37,819 Nope. 61 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:44,480 OK, so now that we're through the trickster fisherman, the Lars LLM. 62 00:03:45,540 --> 00:03:47,439 What was your favorite part about retail? 63 00:03:47,439 --> 00:03:53,159 I really enjoyed networking with other retailers and vendors, actually. 64 00:03:54,319 --> 00:03:56,620 I feel like once you get to know some of the vendors. 65 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:57,939 And not just here. 66 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:13,000 It's a lot easier to understand the product and its purpose in the business that you really need to get under the hood and ask the questions to identify whether or not it's going to be a fit. 67 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:20,519 And it's nice to be able to do that there versus having a million circle back calls when you get back to all those connections. 68 00:04:20,980 --> 00:04:22,639 And on the retailer side, too. 69 00:04:22,639 --> 00:04:27,220 I couldn't believe there's a product that I use instant hydration. 70 00:04:27,220 --> 00:04:28,700 It's a hydration powder. 71 00:04:29,100 --> 00:04:34,180 And I sat next, not next to, across from the head of e-commerce for it at dinner one night. 72 00:04:34,620 --> 00:04:34,960 No way. 73 00:04:34,980 --> 00:04:36,720 We were going around, you know, where are you from? 74 00:04:36,780 --> 00:04:37,180 Where are you from? 75 00:04:37,220 --> 00:04:37,760 What do you do? 76 00:04:37,860 --> 00:04:38,680 You know, and she said that. 77 00:04:38,740 --> 00:04:41,520 I was like, I just had the mango pineapple before I came here. 78 00:04:41,700 --> 00:04:42,320 And she couldn't believe it. 79 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:43,500 I love it when that happens. 80 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:44,960 Just those little things were kind of funny. 81 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:45,900 Yeah. 82 00:04:45,900 --> 00:04:51,560 And then, of course, I ran into a gal named Courtney, whom I loved. 83 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,980 And she recruited one of my best managers. 84 00:04:57,220 --> 00:05:02,200 And now good friend, Lori, to work for her at another company. 85 00:05:02,380 --> 00:05:03,560 Yeah, that was really surreal. 86 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:04,600 It was like small world. 87 00:05:04,820 --> 00:05:09,600 I think the most interesting part of that, like, interaction, like, that was crazy that that all unfolded. 88 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:12,560 But then she explained how she found Lori. 89 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:14,500 And my brain melted. 90 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:16,060 Do you want to walk us through that quick? 91 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:16,980 Absolutely. 92 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,560 So Courtney was working at Pink Lily at the time. 93 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,320 And she was searching for someone to run their CRM channels. 94 00:05:25,980 --> 00:05:27,180 And she says she. 95 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:29,639 She does not remember which tags she inputted into LinkedIn. 96 00:05:29,639 --> 00:05:33,100 But she put a bunch of tags in there that were related to the work. 97 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:34,800 Lori popped up. 98 00:05:34,939 --> 00:05:41,079 She saw Lori was engaged with the brand and actually followed them on LinkedIn and commented or liked some posts. 99 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:46,600 Then she looked her up in their system and saw that she was also an avid customer. 100 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:47,040 Yeah. 101 00:05:47,519 --> 00:05:50,079 And it just reached out to her on LinkedIn. 102 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:51,439 And that's how that all happened. 103 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,060 And it was a great fit. 104 00:05:53,399 --> 00:05:54,319 It was a great fit. 105 00:05:54,319 --> 00:05:56,639 And I told her she would be ridiculous. 106 00:05:56,639 --> 00:05:58,979 Not that I would be mad at her if she didn't take it. 107 00:05:59,099 --> 00:06:00,899 It was clearly a next level up for her. 108 00:06:01,259 --> 00:06:04,379 And I'm actually thinking back to a previous episode of ours where we talked about. 109 00:06:05,159 --> 00:06:07,560 The art of like growing and letting go. 110 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:08,019 Right. 111 00:06:08,079 --> 00:06:10,099 And sometimes as you develop a person. 112 00:06:10,879 --> 00:06:12,199 Leaving is their next step. 113 00:06:12,339 --> 00:06:14,120 And it worked out how it was meant to work out. 114 00:06:14,180 --> 00:06:15,919 But how crazy was that to happen full circle? 115 00:06:17,180 --> 00:06:20,339 And then we took a picture and we texted it to her while we were there. 116 00:06:21,219 --> 00:06:21,979 She is so great. 117 00:06:22,539 --> 00:06:22,899 Absolutely. 118 00:06:22,899 --> 00:06:26,219 I think I want a plus one to your networking. 119 00:06:26,220 --> 00:06:30,380 Being a highlight from this year to from both ends, vendor and retailer. 120 00:06:30,500 --> 00:06:33,460 I felt like this year more than even last year. 121 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:40,920 Just did a really great job at finding really cool, inspiring people from both ends to network with and become LinkedIn friends with. 122 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:47,660 And I feel like now more than ever, I have like a group of people that I can go ping pong ideas off of or hit up for advice. 123 00:06:47,660 --> 00:06:49,280 And that's a really cool feeling. 124 00:06:49,380 --> 00:06:49,600 Right. 125 00:06:49,860 --> 00:06:50,040 Yeah. 126 00:06:50,040 --> 00:06:56,120 What I love, too, about this is we have a purpose to reengage with them. 127 00:06:56,420 --> 00:06:58,200 By having them on our show. 128 00:06:58,440 --> 00:06:58,640 Yes. 129 00:06:58,940 --> 00:07:02,560 Normally you see them at the conference and you probably maybe talk to them one more time. 130 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,500 Only if there's something that comes up and you're like, oh, they would be a good resource. 131 00:07:05,500 --> 00:07:05,840 Right. 132 00:07:06,180 --> 00:07:07,900 And then you don't see them again until the following year. 133 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,640 But now we're able to go, hey, like, let's have you on the show. 134 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:12,500 Let's talk more. 135 00:07:12,580 --> 00:07:13,380 Let's dive deeper. 136 00:07:13,700 --> 00:07:14,040 Yes. 137 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:15,320 Hundred percent. 138 00:07:15,700 --> 00:07:21,320 The other thing I loved about networking with the other retailers is talking about everybody's kind of passion projects. 139 00:07:22,060 --> 00:07:25,720 I cannot believe how many people have these like side things. 140 00:07:25,900 --> 00:07:25,920 Yeah. 141 00:07:26,220 --> 00:07:28,780 Maybe now their job and that that's what they're actually there for. 142 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,340 I mean, we met that one guy, Matthew Chen, who's started Lawrence. 143 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:33,660 Right. 144 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:35,780 Just self-taught initially. 145 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:37,060 And you guys vibe. 146 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:38,600 That was insane. 147 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:39,300 Yeah. 148 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:41,620 So that was honestly like inspiring. 149 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:42,080 Right. 150 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:49,360 Like I had never met another person like me who's relatively self-taught, made a cool app and is running with it. 151 00:07:49,500 --> 00:07:55,480 And then here is Matt with an Amazon PPC business that's like taking off and he's there to continue getting more clients for it. 152 00:07:55,540 --> 00:07:56,080 It was super cool. 153 00:07:56,220 --> 00:07:58,180 And it reminded me of kind of my journey with the hangout spot. 154 00:07:58,180 --> 00:08:02,240 And there's a there's a lot of instances like that at e-tail, though, which is really cool. 155 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:02,520 Right. 156 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,120 Even outside of just that one example. 157 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:05,100 Mm hmm. 158 00:08:05,420 --> 00:08:05,600 Yeah. 159 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:06,680 There are a couple of big fans. 160 00:08:06,740 --> 00:08:11,580 I remember somebody brought up something about parties and getting together with folks. 161 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,820 And I was like, you know what would work for that? 162 00:08:13,940 --> 00:08:14,300 Yes. 163 00:08:15,300 --> 00:08:16,480 That was insane. 164 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:17,440 What? 165 00:08:18,300 --> 00:08:21,400 They were like, how does this work? 166 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:21,820 Oh, my gosh. 167 00:08:22,100 --> 00:08:22,880 Showed them the interface. 168 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:24,600 And they're like, I can't wait to use this. 169 00:08:24,740 --> 00:08:25,100 It's powerful. 170 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:25,580 It doesn't work. 171 00:08:25,660 --> 00:08:26,140 This doesn't work. 172 00:08:26,220 --> 00:08:28,180 And yeah, that was pretty cool. 173 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:29,120 All right. 174 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:31,980 So we did a lot of interacting with retailers. 175 00:08:32,300 --> 00:08:34,500 Let's talk a bit about the expo. 176 00:08:35,139 --> 00:08:39,779 First off, we had our bingo, which I lost. 177 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:43,000 It's OK. 178 00:08:43,139 --> 00:08:45,779 It was actually harder than I expected. 179 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:47,040 Yes. 180 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,360 Because we were so busy. 181 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,840 It was hard to be constantly on the on the problem. 182 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:52,259 Yeah. 183 00:08:52,460 --> 00:08:52,820 Yeah. 184 00:08:53,379 --> 00:08:54,540 It became secondary. 185 00:08:54,759 --> 00:08:55,420 But it was fun. 186 00:08:55,419 --> 00:08:58,120 And every once in a while to just kind of check in on that. 187 00:08:58,219 --> 00:09:01,240 So how many agentic AI boxes did you actually cross off? 188 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:03,299 I'm pretty sure I only had about eight. 189 00:09:03,519 --> 00:09:05,179 And I did not get five in a row. 190 00:09:06,179 --> 00:09:06,579 Sadly. 191 00:09:07,179 --> 00:09:09,139 I got the middle row horizontally. 192 00:09:09,939 --> 00:09:11,659 And I was one shy on that one. 193 00:09:12,199 --> 00:09:13,319 Which one were you shy on? 194 00:09:13,839 --> 00:09:14,719 The wardrobe malfunction. 195 00:09:16,139 --> 00:09:16,839 You got that one? 196 00:09:16,959 --> 00:09:17,399 I did. 197 00:09:18,539 --> 00:09:24,819 So outside of that middle row, I also had spot the floor office. 198 00:09:25,419 --> 00:09:39,939 Oh, yeah, I have a picture of that one whole aisle as people go between the hotel area and the area for the show that everybody is like on the back to the wall, like on the floor with their laptops. 199 00:09:41,019 --> 00:09:45,819 Let's discuss now kind of all of the agentic things that we saw. 200 00:09:45,819 --> 00:09:47,299 We saw lots and lots of agentic. 201 00:09:47,299 --> 00:09:47,539 Right. 202 00:09:47,539 --> 00:09:49,740 And what does agentic really, really mean? 203 00:09:50,099 --> 00:09:51,779 How is it actually useful? 204 00:09:52,179 --> 00:09:55,139 There's so many different layers and levels to it. 205 00:09:55,419 --> 00:10:01,039 But I felt like the new tech that I was seeing for that was a little bit lackluster. 206 00:10:01,939 --> 00:10:07,419 Most of the ones after I started asking some questions, I found out were actually just in beta. 207 00:10:08,879 --> 00:10:10,819 There's a little bit of a roller coaster, right? 208 00:10:10,860 --> 00:10:16,159 Because they were selling it as this is available now. 209 00:10:16,419 --> 00:10:16,699 Yes. 210 00:10:16,979 --> 00:10:20,319 Which is definitely a thing that happens at the show a lot. 211 00:10:20,319 --> 00:10:25,399 I feel like they do have a product, but it's not necessarily fully fleshed out. 212 00:10:25,419 --> 00:10:25,579 Yeah. 213 00:10:26,159 --> 00:10:37,579 And the one thing that I kept hearing over and over again that I, I don't know if the vendors are just tone deaf or we just do things so differently, but I kept getting, oh, your Monday report. 214 00:10:37,579 --> 00:10:41,459 I even saw a whole presentation on this in the AI summit that I spoke in. 215 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,879 It was like saving yourself from the Monday report and just having this LLM do it for you. 216 00:10:46,979 --> 00:10:50,559 You type in what you want to know and it will just recap everything for you. 217 00:10:51,019 --> 00:10:55,399 I was like, well, I mean, you could just download stuff and do that without paying. 218 00:10:55,579 --> 00:10:56,500 There's an extra price for it. 219 00:10:56,519 --> 00:10:57,000 Number one. 220 00:10:57,099 --> 00:10:59,839 Number two, who's spending that many hours on a Monday? 221 00:11:00,539 --> 00:11:01,879 And they were telling us more, right? 222 00:11:01,959 --> 00:11:04,219 They're like, don't you spend six hours on a Monday? 223 00:11:04,659 --> 00:11:09,299 It's like, whoa, I spend a lot of time on Monday pulling numbers, but not six hours. 224 00:11:09,759 --> 00:11:10,179 Like, yeah. 225 00:11:10,639 --> 00:11:12,199 Oh, deaf ears for me, for sure. 226 00:11:13,199 --> 00:11:19,360 And I feel like that was the biggest thing that I was seeing on the CRM e-commerce side. 227 00:11:19,599 --> 00:11:25,360 There was one piece of the puzzle on the CRM side that would save quite a bit of time, which is like. 228 00:11:25,419 --> 00:11:27,319 Like audiencing with an LLM. 229 00:11:28,319 --> 00:11:32,099 But I feel like that's coming for all of them anyway. 230 00:11:32,919 --> 00:11:37,879 So I don't know exactly that it's a different differentiator at this point. 231 00:11:38,519 --> 00:11:41,199 And again, I thought that was super cool, too. 232 00:11:41,259 --> 00:11:41,439 Right. 233 00:11:41,459 --> 00:11:44,059 Being able to just type in quick and have you make an audience for you. 234 00:11:44,139 --> 00:11:50,279 However, I don't know that creating an audience is the most lengthy time suck to begin with. 235 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:52,179 Correct. 236 00:11:52,860 --> 00:11:54,059 So again, yeah, I agree. 237 00:11:54,059 --> 00:11:54,419 Yeah. 238 00:11:55,419 --> 00:12:00,740 There was some cool stuff for sure, but I didn't feel like this was a big revolutionary year as far as tech goes. 239 00:12:00,740 --> 00:12:01,659 No breakthroughs. 240 00:12:01,939 --> 00:12:02,199 Yeah. 241 00:12:02,979 --> 00:12:12,299 And even on like the PPC or performance marketing side of things, like again, there was some cool stuff, but it felt like AI driven data stitching companies. 242 00:12:12,439 --> 00:12:14,919 So you can take your omni channel approach and kind of unify it. 243 00:12:15,399 --> 00:12:15,599 Yeah. 244 00:12:15,639 --> 00:12:19,579 There weren't really many breakthroughs that I saw at this show. 245 00:12:19,579 --> 00:12:25,079 At least maybe there's some sleeper ones, but none that I was like, absolutely. 246 00:12:25,419 --> 00:12:34,740 But we have to share the quick interview we had impromptu at lunch with a gal who had quite the run in with. 247 00:12:34,959 --> 00:12:35,719 Oh, my gosh. 248 00:12:36,259 --> 00:12:36,659 Unreal. 249 00:12:36,919 --> 00:12:39,419 I could not believe it, guys. 250 00:12:39,939 --> 00:12:42,059 Let's let's check it out. 251 00:12:42,099 --> 00:12:43,059 Let's cut to the clip. 252 00:12:43,740 --> 00:12:47,179 What is the most unhinged that you've gotten today? 253 00:12:47,740 --> 00:12:54,559 Walked out of a talk probably two hours ago, was charging for the bathroom because needed to do that. 254 00:12:54,759 --> 00:12:55,019 And. 255 00:12:55,420 --> 00:13:14,220 This girl walking next to me was like, how are you enjoying that was like, oh, you're talking to me, didn't realize that I literally on a mission, followed me into the bathroom to try to sell me her subscription service, waited for me to get out of the stall, not just followed me to stand in line once I went into the stall, was waiting for me by the sink to finish her pitch. 256 00:13:14,220 --> 00:13:20,040 We stood there for five minutes because I didn't want to tell her to politely fuck off, but I was feeling it. 257 00:13:20,100 --> 00:13:22,200 And then I was like, OK, scanned my thing. 258 00:13:22,220 --> 00:13:25,240 And I was like, I'm probably going to block her on LinkedIn. 259 00:13:25,420 --> 00:13:29,300 Because that's in the back, in the yeah, in the bathroom. 260 00:13:29,900 --> 00:13:31,600 OK, so can we just take a moment? 261 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,420 What in the world in the restroom? 262 00:13:35,700 --> 00:13:38,160 That's a whole, whole new level. 263 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:44,300 I really hope that that was somebody very, very early on in their career and just like wanting to get after it. 264 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:46,280 And I don't know, maybe their job was on the line. 265 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:47,420 How would you react? 266 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:48,860 How would I react? 267 00:13:50,220 --> 00:13:53,020 I would probably be like, I I'm sorry. 268 00:13:53,140 --> 00:13:55,400 No, I don't feel like this is the right time to be. 269 00:13:55,420 --> 00:13:57,920 I don't feel like chatting or like, could you give me like some privacy? 270 00:13:58,560 --> 00:13:59,140 I don't know. 271 00:13:59,460 --> 00:14:01,540 It's hard because I'm that Minnesota nice, too. 272 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,180 So I might just like let them and then tell the story after. 273 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:07,000 Be like, at least I got a good story out of it. 274 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,400 I am trying to decide if I'd approach it with Minnesota nice. 275 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:14,120 I don't know if I'd even be able to react because I'd be like, are you for real? 276 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:16,660 This isn't happening, right? 277 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:17,440 Am I in a dream? 278 00:14:18,020 --> 00:14:21,340 Like you just squatted outside of my stall door. 279 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:22,040 Yeah. 280 00:14:22,700 --> 00:14:25,400 It's awkward enough when you're to talk to somebody when you're in. 281 00:14:25,420 --> 00:14:29,500 The restroom, like unless you're putting on putting on lipstick or something like that, 282 00:14:29,540 --> 00:14:31,700 but to like carry out a whole conversation. 283 00:14:31,940 --> 00:14:33,340 I don't know, man. 284 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:35,420 They had some numbers to make. 285 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:36,640 They had some scans to do. 286 00:14:36,740 --> 00:14:38,660 Nate, they're not going to fail. 287 00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:39,620 I guess. 288 00:14:41,540 --> 00:14:46,660 I wanted to ask one other thing, which I don't think we have on our list of topics today. 289 00:14:46,660 --> 00:14:55,340 But when it comes to AI adoption, when I went to the retail in Boston back in August, I spoke on it. 290 00:14:55,340 --> 00:15:17,360 We had an AI panel there and we started off asking people how often, like, if you've used AI in the last week, raise your hand kind of thing, very, like, I'm going to say 1% of the audience raised their hand and I don't know if it's just because I spoke this time in the AI summit, but it seemed that adoption was a lot higher. 291 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:23,960 However, I want to say people are still keeping it at arm's length to somebody was speaking on. 292 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,340 They were talking about how. 293 00:15:25,540 --> 00:15:30,660 You can prompt and change your product image, which was on white to be on a person. 294 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:35,300 And they had this like gift already clipped up and everything. 295 00:15:35,300 --> 00:15:35,519 Right. 296 00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:39,800 So they think they're clicking their slides through and it generates the image. 297 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,019 And the gal next to me was like, I don't like that. 298 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,780 And I was like, oh, what, what do you see that's wrong with it? 299 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:47,540 She's like, oh, it's just creepy. 300 00:15:48,060 --> 00:15:54,220 We're here talking about AI, how we're using it to save time and hours for our employees. 301 00:15:54,220 --> 00:15:55,340 So they can work on higher levels. 302 00:15:55,340 --> 00:16:00,480 They can work on multiple things or work on other projects that they have a passion for within the business, have greater effectiveness. 303 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:00,940 Right. 304 00:16:01,519 --> 00:16:06,220 And at the same time, there's people out there that are just like, I don't know, but it gives me the. 305 00:16:06,519 --> 00:16:13,940 So they're not embracing it, which is kind of hard to believe because, like, it's here and it's very clear it's not going away. 306 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:17,220 So if we're not adopting it, you will be behind. 307 00:16:17,620 --> 00:16:19,200 I agree 100 percent. 308 00:16:19,620 --> 00:16:24,780 And I'm trying to figure out how to get through to those people, help them get on board with it. 309 00:16:24,779 --> 00:16:25,740 Does that make sense? 310 00:16:25,879 --> 00:16:26,179 Yes. 311 00:16:26,179 --> 00:16:34,079 Like, I was so, so astonished at the adoption rate, but also the fact that people are like, it's here, but I don't really want to use it. 312 00:16:34,459 --> 00:16:37,179 I do think the adoption rate is like a big part of this, though. 313 00:16:37,220 --> 00:16:37,439 Right. 314 00:16:37,559 --> 00:16:39,759 And I think it's changing quickly because I agree. 315 00:16:39,939 --> 00:16:45,179 One, I sat through a couple of sessions that were around getting your website ready for AI. 316 00:16:45,379 --> 00:16:46,439 Like, are you getting cited? 317 00:16:46,740 --> 00:16:49,899 Are you generating AI traffic and how just to be ready for that? 318 00:16:49,919 --> 00:16:50,139 Right. 319 00:16:50,139 --> 00:16:54,579 And one of the pushbacks was how do I allocate resources to growing? 320 00:16:54,779 --> 00:16:58,740 A chunk of traffic that's less than one percent of my site traffic right now. 321 00:16:59,299 --> 00:17:02,720 And my rebuttal to that is like, look, rewind to three months ago. 322 00:17:02,959 --> 00:17:09,539 You maybe would have asked your friends how many of you have used AI in the last week and you would have gotten some hands, but maybe not all. 323 00:17:09,940 --> 00:17:12,519 But only three months later today, you ask that same question. 324 00:17:12,619 --> 00:17:13,879 I bet you that answer is double. 325 00:17:14,579 --> 00:17:19,500 So it's I feel like the AI adoption itself is just exponentially growing. 326 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,680 And pretty soon that half of a percent of traffic is going to be three percent of traffic. 327 00:17:24,779 --> 00:17:26,339 And then all of a sudden you're behind. 328 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:26,940 Right. 329 00:17:26,940 --> 00:17:41,599 OK, so lots of time spent networking on the expo floor in sessions, filling our brain with tons of knowledge and are putting our task lists or to do list set capacity. 330 00:17:42,299 --> 00:17:48,619 But a part of this was also spent doing some self-care or, you know, speed triage, arguably one of the most exciting parts. 331 00:17:49,299 --> 00:17:49,639 Absolutely. 332 00:17:49,639 --> 00:17:53,039 And I have not done that in years past at ETL. 333 00:17:53,299 --> 00:17:54,759 And it was definitely. 334 00:17:54,779 --> 00:18:10,200 A win this year to take, I don't know, was it maybe like two hours throughout where we had a little bit of self-care and big thanks to Klaviyo here for sponsoring a beautiful villa with. 335 00:18:10,519 --> 00:18:16,399 OK, first of all, first of all, first of all, let's talk about the villa that they rented. 336 00:18:16,399 --> 00:18:21,759 OK, this had a pickleball court, which, of course, we were the only two that played. 337 00:18:22,519 --> 00:18:24,039 And of course, my favorite. 338 00:18:24,779 --> 00:18:28,740 Because the gal from Kenya that's like, I'm Kenyan and I'm not even doing that. 339 00:18:29,220 --> 00:18:30,519 And we were running. 340 00:18:32,079 --> 00:18:33,980 Like it was a competition. 341 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:35,819 Debbie was great. 342 00:18:36,139 --> 00:18:36,759 I loved her. 343 00:18:36,839 --> 00:18:40,039 Pickleball, bocce ball, some mini golf. 344 00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:42,000 A sand bocce ball court, you know? 345 00:18:42,099 --> 00:18:42,500 Yes. 346 00:18:42,559 --> 00:18:44,759 Like a six hole mini putt course. 347 00:18:45,599 --> 00:18:46,299 It was insane. 348 00:18:46,299 --> 00:18:48,740 They had like little soccer balls and nuts. 349 00:18:48,740 --> 00:18:50,019 Then there were the hammocks. 350 00:18:50,599 --> 00:18:54,740 And then there was the lazy river and the pool and the waterfalls coming over the bridge. 351 00:18:54,779 --> 00:18:56,440 I mean, so beautiful. 352 00:18:57,099 --> 00:19:00,500 And then they had the sound bath. 353 00:19:04,460 --> 00:19:05,599 Oh, the sound bath. 354 00:19:06,180 --> 00:19:07,319 I'd never had one before. 355 00:19:08,339 --> 00:19:08,779 Me neither. 356 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:10,259 And that's what everyone heard at the beginning. 357 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,579 Had to do a brief recording while I was sitting there, of course. 358 00:19:12,779 --> 00:19:18,740 But it was definitely necessary to have that kind of reset during our four day sprint there. 359 00:19:19,420 --> 00:19:19,819 Agreed. 360 00:19:20,299 --> 00:19:23,519 The night before, Nate was like, go, go, go. 361 00:19:23,759 --> 00:19:24,240 Attentive. 362 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,240 The pit stop hosted their amazing party. 363 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:29,920 The pit stop loved their branding throughout the entire show. 364 00:19:30,099 --> 00:19:31,839 That was such a cool party. 365 00:19:32,140 --> 00:19:32,339 Yeah. 366 00:19:32,940 --> 00:19:33,359 Yes. 367 00:19:33,660 --> 00:19:33,839 Yeah. 368 00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:34,859 Their party was sweet. 369 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:39,019 The F1 simulator with like the chair that moved based on how you were driving. 370 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,099 The life-size track racing where you pulled the trigger and the car goes around the track. 371 00:19:44,539 --> 00:19:46,120 The In-N-Out burger truck. 372 00:19:46,519 --> 00:19:46,940 Yes. 373 00:19:48,039 --> 00:19:52,660 And the taco truck and the churro truck and the caviar and champagne station, which sadly 374 00:19:52,660 --> 00:19:53,759 I did not partake in. 375 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:55,700 They really, they really showed up. 376 00:19:55,759 --> 00:19:56,359 That's for sure. 377 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:02,599 And before that, we were already at a nine-course Michelin-trained chef dinner. 378 00:20:03,140 --> 00:20:03,539 Mm-hmm. 379 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:04,799 That was wonderful. 380 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:06,259 The comache was my favorite. 381 00:20:07,059 --> 00:20:09,960 I know you didn't partake in that because you don't like the raw fish, but that was 382 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:10,579 so good. 383 00:20:11,059 --> 00:20:12,960 I mean, everything else was so good. 384 00:20:13,799 --> 00:20:17,079 And really, really great retailers that were there. 385 00:20:17,279 --> 00:20:18,279 It was a wonderful mix. 386 00:20:18,660 --> 00:20:18,980 Yeah. 387 00:20:19,220 --> 00:20:20,599 And the great discussion. 388 00:20:20,859 --> 00:20:23,240 Like that whole dinner was just an awesome experience. 389 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:23,359 Yes. 390 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:30,220 We also, prior to the show really kicking off, had a little bit of time on Sunday. 391 00:20:30,220 --> 00:20:34,640 And so we did the Kilo Mini Golf course at the JW. 392 00:20:35,259 --> 00:20:36,140 That was fun. 393 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:41,000 I know we, I just, I think we discovered that last year and I had no idea that it was even 394 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:46,940 there, but we ran into Armand from Ometria, who we had met the year prior and we had become 395 00:20:46,940 --> 00:20:48,640 fast buds last year. 396 00:20:48,940 --> 00:20:49,160 Mm-hmm. 397 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,220 So got to hang out with him a little bit and get his take on some unhinged. 398 00:20:54,220 --> 00:20:56,819 AI while we beat him at mini golf. 399 00:20:57,660 --> 00:20:58,940 We did, we did. 400 00:20:59,380 --> 00:21:02,400 But then he, he beat us at pool real bad. 401 00:21:02,420 --> 00:21:03,200 Yeah, he did. 402 00:21:03,339 --> 00:21:04,279 That's insane. 403 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:05,900 That he hustled us. 404 00:21:06,140 --> 00:21:06,240 That is insane. 405 00:21:06,579 --> 00:21:10,140 So yeah, let's cut to the clip of his take on unhinged AI. 406 00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:11,920 Sales pitch. 407 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:12,600 Yeah. 408 00:21:12,740 --> 00:21:13,740 So like, what do you think? 409 00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:17,960 The most unhinged, like the most unhinged AI pitch. 410 00:21:18,799 --> 00:21:23,440 I think it'll be the AI that convinces you that they can do your job. 411 00:21:24,220 --> 00:21:31,799 But AI companies have to be more aware of what they're doing because sometimes they're 412 00:21:31,799 --> 00:21:37,900 pitching to people and not realizing that they're trying to fully replace the person 413 00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:38,819 who's making that decision. 414 00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:39,299 Yeah. 415 00:21:39,759 --> 00:21:45,740 Or, or they're pitching to somebody who's already done what they've done within their 416 00:21:45,740 --> 00:21:46,319 own team. 417 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:47,360 Yes. 418 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:50,960 Like I don't, I literally had that on the way down to that half an hour. 419 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,279 I was like, yeah, I've actually already done that. 420 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:54,200 So I don't need your support. 421 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,680 Companies may lose sight of who they're talking to when trying to talk about that. 422 00:21:59,140 --> 00:22:00,259 Well, there you have it. 423 00:22:00,339 --> 00:22:02,799 All in all, I'd say it was a super successful e-tail. 424 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:07,160 I don't know about you, Dai, but I think for me personally, it was maybe a little bit more 425 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,620 about the connections this year than the tools, but that's okay because you have to have a 426 00:22:10,620 --> 00:22:11,559 mix, right? 427 00:22:11,860 --> 00:22:12,059 Yep. 428 00:22:12,500 --> 00:22:12,980 I'd agree. 429 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:18,600 I do think that there are probably some sleeper tools in there, but yeah, it was really about 430 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:19,660 the connections this year. 431 00:22:19,660 --> 00:22:22,779 And we do still have some like circle back meetings to go through. 432 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:24,039 So that could change too. 433 00:22:24,220 --> 00:22:25,019 Circle back. 434 00:22:25,740 --> 00:22:27,600 Should we set a challenge out there, Nate? 435 00:22:28,460 --> 00:22:29,779 Why don't we just ask our listeners? 436 00:22:29,980 --> 00:22:32,400 What's the most unhinged AI pitch they've gotten this year? 437 00:22:33,140 --> 00:22:33,579 Absolutely. 438 00:22:33,700 --> 00:22:33,880 Yeah. 439 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:34,779 I want to hear that. 440 00:22:35,299 --> 00:22:35,620 Yeah. 441 00:22:35,860 --> 00:22:41,620 And if somebody can beat the bathroom pitch, I want to hear it. 442 00:22:42,380 --> 00:22:43,420 We will feature you. 443 00:22:43,579 --> 00:22:43,920 Yes. 444 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:45,519 We will feature you on our show. 445 00:22:45,519 --> 00:22:45,640 Yeah. 446 00:22:48,180 --> 00:22:49,860 Well, until next time. 447 00:22:50,460 --> 00:22:50,980 Stay tight, babe. 448 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:52,380 And a little unhinged. 449 00:22:54,220 --> 00:23:24,200 Stay tight. 450 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:24,220 Stay tight. 451 00:23:24,220 --> 00:23:25,019 And a little unhinged. 452 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,100 Now it's time to get to work. 453 00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,200 Make sure to hit subscribe so you never miss a system update. 454 00:23:47,100 --> 00:23:48,100 Bye. 455 00:23:53,380 --> 00:23:53,700 Bye. 456 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:53,740 Bye. 457 00:23:53,740 --> 00:23:53,759 Bye. 458 00:23:53,759 --> 00:23:53,779 Bye. 459 00:23:53,779 --> 00:23:53,799 Bye. 460 00:23:53,799 --> 00:23:53,819 Bye. 461 00:23:53,819 --> 00:23:53,860 Bye. 462 00:23:53,860 --> 00:23:53,940 Bye. 463 00:23:53,940 --> 00:23:53,960 Bye.