0:12

Hello, and welcome to another edition of

0:14

Podcast for the Future. I'm your

0:16

host, Tim Chrisman, the executive Director

0:18

of the Foundation for the Future. I'm

0:21

joined today by two

0:23

of the founders of a startup called

0:26

ROADR the brothers Otiniel

0:28

Celso Ribeiro.

0:35

They come originally from Angola

0:37

come to the US by way of

0:40

Norway. Otiniel is the founder

0:42

and CEO of ROADR with

0:44

10 years of experience in technology

0:46

companies. He is.

0:50

Constantly looking for

0:52

new ways to innovate and

0:55

has a particular bent towards

0:57

trying to improve computer

0:59

hardware. As early as

1:02

14, he started

1:04

his sales career. According to

1:06

him, he would sell anything his

1:08

hands could he could get his hands on. So

1:11

it'll it'll be exciting to hear more

1:13

about that. Celso is

1:15

the chief Innovation Officer. Where

1:18

he leads the development of new capabilities

1:20

and architectures for

1:22

ROADR. He has over 10 years experience

1:25

as a graphic designer doing design

1:27

and technology development

1:29

and holds a bachelor of science

1:32

in mathematics from Texas Tech

1:34

University. It's it's

1:36

exciting to have you both here and

1:38

yeah, let's chat.

1:41

Hello, Tim. Hello, and

1:44

if I remember right, it's gonna be you and your brother, right?

1:46

Okay. Very good.

1:49

Hi everyone. Hello.

1:52

Yeah, no, great having you here. The whole idea

1:54

is just trying to get a sense of, what got

1:56

you here and making

1:58

the case that people

2:01

doing things that are. Important

2:04

and a big deal. Don't always follow

2:07

a linear path. Yes. Yeah, of course.

2:09

No, cause the, Our listeners want to hear

2:12

is that they have a shot at doing

2:14

something. Exactly. They're sitting

2:16

in an office, have been doing that for 30 years,

2:18

or they got an art history

2:20

degree and don't know what they're gonna do with it. And

2:23

they have a shot to do something given

2:25

some determination, some grit and

2:28

audacity. Yep. Yeah. So yeah,

2:30

let's Yeah, no. Tell me about your backgrounds.

2:32

I'm assuming you all have worked out who

2:35

gets to talk first by some

2:37

sibling hand signal that I haven't

2:39

been able to pick up on Yeah.

2:42

I can get a head start. Background. So

2:44

we were originally born in Angola,

2:47

Central Africa. Then

2:49

so transition to Portugal where I attended

2:52

elementary school. So

2:54

we're pretty much back and forth between

2:56

Angola and Portugal, cuz Angola

2:59

were a Portuguese colony in

3:01

the past. Okay. And then, so

3:04

we're, our entire life we were in a Portuguese

3:06

education system. And

3:08

then funny enough, we end

3:10

up in Norway where we

3:12

didn't know any English nor in region.

3:15

I was in the middle of high school. Yeah.

3:17

And Celso in, in the middle school. And

3:19

we always had the passion towards

3:22

technology because our parents, my

3:24

mother, she's a chemical engineer.

3:27

My father is a politician

3:29

and also an engineer with minors

3:31

in computer science. So

3:33

we got in trouble a couple of times.

3:36

He had this old IBM

3:38

computers at home, so we would take parts

3:41

and he would've come home and the computer's not

3:43

working and he has to get his work done.

3:46

And it just started fast forward,

3:48

he in depth, like giving us one

3:51

of the old computers that was just sitting in there.

3:53

And just out of curiosity, all we wanted

3:56

to do was play games and Yeah. And

3:58

you just have fun. And I will never forget

4:00

it was the FIFA. It came out

4:03

and our GPU could

4:05

run it. It wasn't strong enough. Oh, no.

4:08

So we asked him, so we asked him for,

4:10

for funds to buy it, and he told

4:13

us no. And so

4:15

we ended up getting copies of

4:17

that game and we started selling in, in,

4:19

I was in middle school and Celso wasn't in

4:21

elementary. So we're starting to spread,

4:24

which is illegal by the way, that were all prior

4:26

copies. But that's basically

4:28

where everything started, so yeah, I'll

4:32

let Celso continue a little bit on, on

4:35

that background side but yeah, that's pretty much

4:37

where our entrepreneur

4:39

journey started for the most. Hey,

4:42

you gotta do what you gotta do. If your computer

4:44

doesn't work for the game you want as a kid, I,

4:47

I've a hundred percent backed your play

4:49

on this man I can there was so many

4:51

times when growing up

4:54

I had one thing or another

4:56

where I wanted to play man and conquer. I think

4:58

it. And

5:01

computer wouldn't handle it. That for a five

5:03

year old, that's a significant emotional event.

5:05

Yeah. If you gotta turn to a life of crime, you gotta

5:07

do that. Sometimes. I get it. You

5:11

gotta and the lesson there, being

5:13

able to be okay with uncomfortable,

5:15

be exactly. Gotta be able to move in the

5:17

room full of nos, like Kanye sex,

5:19

and that's what got us here. It was many nos

5:21

to get here. Yep. Here we are.

5:26

Yeah. But yeah, also,

5:29

yeah. Cause this journey, it really started

5:32

that way and it only kept growing and growing.

5:34

So after that, when we went to, Nor. We

5:37

are both like very active, so we were

5:39

athletes as well. So we ended up taking

5:41

on basketball and I was one

5:44

of the star athletes on the team, not

5:46

to do my own horn, but we started

5:48

developing, like

5:51

being around that culture. I think the sports

5:53

culture being around having your teammate,

5:55

that camaraderie with your coach. Yeah,

5:58

it just opens up your eyes a lot.

6:00

Yeah, it really does. With teammates and

6:02

with other people too, to, for a common

6:04

go, and this is way, I think our

6:06

social skills took another leap, so being

6:09

able to get people to buy into the

6:11

vision of what you guys are trying to do. In

6:13

that case, was winning a championship for the first

6:15

time, for the school, specific

6:18

school, but that mentality.

6:21

Carried us to, brought

6:23

us to the us. Actually, the reason why we came to the US

6:26

Oh was specifically me, it was mostly

6:28

for, cause I wanted to be in the nba. That

6:30

was my goal. There was nothing else. It

6:32

was either that I was gonna be an entrepreneur.

6:35

I even remember saying that. Yeah in 11th

6:37

grade, And everybody looked

6:39

at me like back home in Angola. They're like,

6:41

What you going wear here

6:44

in Africa? Hell, I don't see that

6:46

happen anytime soon. So

6:48

yeah, but that was always my vision. And

6:50

ot, same thing. And my younger brother too,

6:53

he's also one of the cofounders lu Kenny. So

6:56

the household, just imagine three, almost

6:59

very competi. Yeah,

7:02

my mom used to poke competition

7:07

somewhere or another, and

7:09

then when we came here to the us, that's where

7:12

we got into crypto. Thousand

7:14

14, 15, we started really building

7:16

mining rigs and selling to business. Like

7:19

on the B2B side? Yeah. Yeah. We wanted

7:21

to start their own mining farms and stuff, and

7:23

that's where it all happened in. So

7:25

the car breaks down in one

7:27

of the a very dangerous neighborhood there,

7:30

and we had to wait for

7:32

two, three hours. Wow. Fil-A And

7:35

that experience leaves a better test in your

7:37

mouth. Cause not only is it expensive

7:39

you have to pay, but the

7:41

time commit. How

7:44

stressful you are in this situation. And

7:46

then you can't leave because you wanna make

7:48

sure that the person who is coming to help you and everything

7:50

is somebody that is trustworthy. So

7:53

you have all of those things going on. Yeah, And what

7:55

spark it. Cause we were always

7:57

like sales, right? Selling stuff, selling,

8:00

selling cd, selling games, selling

8:02

mining rigs. You know what,

8:05

there's a need for, let's research this company this

8:07

industry better. And we started research. And

8:10

from then on actually talking with

8:12

people. Yeah. Everybody had that similar

8:14

experience. I'm like, how? How is this,

8:16

So this is almost like the food. Everybody

8:18

gets to put some point in life and they're like,

8:20

Wow, this is insane. And

8:22

then finally talking

8:25

to the professionals, that's what really sold it.

8:27

Oh, yeah. Because they are exploited in

8:29

this industry to some degree. Oh wow. It's like

8:33

the, It's a very dangerous job. Lots of

8:35

them like, One every

8:37

six days. Every six days dies

8:39

on the job because of oncoming traffic

8:42

and stuff on the freeway. Ok. It's very dangerous.

8:44

And to not be compensated enough.

8:47

Yeah. Not having the autonomy of your own

8:49

body and everything, and you're not being able to take

8:51

like more than two weeks

8:54

of absence maybe. Yeah. Or even

8:56

your vacation time is only like two weeks. Most

8:58

of the. Wow. I

9:00

was like learning these stories

9:02

and interacting with them and talking with them. It

9:05

sold the whole picture

9:07

and it was like, Yeah, this is a must. We need to do this.

9:09

So yeah, they decided to

9:11

create roller. Wow. No my

9:14

AAA experience was also in Texas. What

9:16

part? Texas so it was West Texas

9:19

somewhere between Lubbock and El Paso.

9:21

I don't know exactly. I'm

9:24

actually a. Railroad.

9:27

I'm a Texas, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

9:29

I was driving from Georgia to Arizona.

9:32

It was in one go. I was trying to get

9:34

on a plane from Phoenix home

9:36

for Christmas, and ran

9:38

outta gas in the middle of the night. Yep.

9:43

It happens. But

9:46

how did you wait? It was hours. Wow.

9:49

Which gave me a good chance to nap.

9:51

All things considered it probably made my trip safer,

9:54

but not a good thing. And so

9:56

yeah, no, it's definitely a need and it's finally

9:58

here, know? yeah. C is the pilot

10:01

and to then go nationwide

10:03

and then international. Yeah,

10:06

no, absolutely. Yeah,

10:09

go ahead. And what, you guys had this experience

10:12

and you did this research

10:14

and then Mo, most people

10:16

stop there. they have this, most people stop it's

10:18

bad experience and say hey, this sex,

10:20

why did this happen? You all

10:22

went the next step further and was like, Hey, how common is

10:24

this? This is kinda weird. And then

10:27

you went even further and said

10:29

we can fix this. like what

10:31

was the thought process there? I

10:34

think ourselves,

10:36

just in life where there's a challenge,

10:38

there's an opportunity and then it just started from

10:40

there. Yeah. We believe in taking

10:42

one day at a time. And

10:44

this is exactly what we did. So by

10:48

ultimately what we did is a

10:50

team sport. Yeah. Because

10:53

as human beings, we are all born

10:55

not perfect. So the sum of

10:57

imperfection makes it perfect. So together

11:00

we were able to build

11:03

something that not only helps

11:05

people, but solves a problem and generate

11:07

many jobs. During the beginning we

11:09

wanted to we wanted to see, okay, what

11:12

are the things that we are able and

11:14

capable of doing right now?

11:16

start on the legal side through name,

11:19

registering everything. And then on

11:21

the design aspect of it, there's something

11:23

there. We have an eye for

11:25

it. We're extremely detailed. Me soso,

11:28

and a lot of our team members,

11:31

And then it started from there was right in the middle

11:34

of the covid. Everything was dead. So we had a

11:36

small office in Houston. We relocated

11:39

from Houston to LA

11:41

taking mine. Now this is, nothing

11:44

is open, okay?

11:48

This is the perfect city to launch this,

11:50

and the market is great.

11:52

It's the perfect fit. And then California

11:54

is the tech of, of the United States.

11:57

I was like, Okay, let's do it. So

11:59

we made the trip here and

12:01

start taking one day at a time, talking directly with

12:04

the customers, gathering feedback.

12:06

Initially it was just the customer,

12:08

talking to them and so on, cuz we knew a little

12:11

bit of the pain points because we

12:13

through it ourselves and then

12:15

to now getting on the specialist

12:17

side. So with saying, we literally

12:20

go and we have coffee with. We

12:23

interact with them directly. Because the goal

12:25

is to build something that

12:28

addresses the customer and

12:30

the specialist side, right? So

12:32

that they both happy. And that's how you win. So

12:34

there are many answers that they have

12:36

been trying to get from the big players in the industry,

12:39

and we are here to address them. So we are placing.

12:42

Everything within our product. Yeah.

12:45

And yeah yeah. Yeah.

12:47

It's, that's basically what it what,

12:49

how everything just played out by just

12:51

taking one day at a time and being patient being

12:54

comfortable with uncomfortable, like we're saying

12:56

it would be plenty of No, but

12:58

the last thing you wanna do is giving up, right?

13:01

So the grit, like you mention,

13:03

and just being, being self

13:05

motivated, being able to clap, self

13:07

clap whenever there's a small accomplishment

13:11

and now it's here so

13:13

the world will be able to use it and

13:16

we'll definitely impact many lives in a positive

13:18

manner. And that was the entire goal since

13:20

we started. Yeah. Yeah.

13:22

And I a lot of people, Especially,

13:25

the people that come on here and talk or

13:28

that, you or I hang out with, don't

13:30

necessarily recognize the

13:33

significance of what you were saying

13:35

there about, Oh we just kept

13:37

going. yeah. A thousand people told me

13:39

no yesterday or there was a dozen

13:41

technical problems, but I just

13:43

kept going. It doesn't seem like

13:45

a big deal. And every

13:47

single one of those on their own probably

13:49

aren't. But then, you celebrated

13:52

every one of these little wins. You picked

13:55

yourself up after every one of the little no's

13:57

and right now, six months, a year, two

13:59

years later. it's it's a big deal. It

14:02

turns out Thank you. And

14:04

it makes sense if you actually notice, like

14:07

this is why I mentioned the background with with sports

14:09

and basketball. Like we weren't when

14:11

you started sports. It's very

14:14

rarely, unless you are like extremely gifted.

14:16

Yeah, genetically. And maybe you have started

14:18

training since we're like four years old, maybe Yeah.

14:21

Yeah. But most of us, once we picked up

14:23

like at maybe around 11, 12

14:25

years old, you're not

14:27

really good. You're the worst player on the team. You

14:29

suck. You either going to let that experience

14:32

hinder. Or you're gonna

14:35

let it build you up. Yeah. So that's

14:37

where the grid comes from. This is what I'm saying. The

14:39

background in basketball is very important because

14:41

I always believe people need to go to struggle,

14:43

especially men specifically.

14:45

Yeah. We need to go to struggle because we need

14:47

to be able to overcome and solve problems. This is

14:50

our main agency. Yeah.

14:52

Yeah. That's where it comes from losing

14:54

in our home floor, especially

14:57

playing basketball, being trash.

15:00

And coming the next year on

15:02

the bus, coming back from Sweden back to Norway,

15:05

they're like, Guys, we need to win

15:07

the next tournament in our own

15:09

gym, in our own school. We

15:11

need to win it. We cannot accept this anymore. And

15:14

that working together, like what you said,

15:16

the team aspect, working together

15:18

figuring it out, Okay, you're better

15:21

at this. I think you should do this next season.

15:23

We need to change the office maybe this way. And

15:25

all of these. It might

15:27

seem like it only applies to sport, but it applies to business

15:29

and life in general. Yeah, and

15:32

all the adversities that we had to face, I felt

15:34

in school. like in 11th grade, I got held

15:36

back twice. Like it was

15:38

devastating. Literally when you went to cu I was

15:40

about to come to the US but I felt twice

15:43

and all of my friends already graduated

15:45

there living the college life and everything, and I'm

15:47

stuck there back home knowing

15:50

that this, that day I made a promise

15:52

to myself. I was like, Every

15:54

time I fail at something, I will never give

15:56

up. Especially if I know that there's a way

15:58

to improve Little by

16:00

little. Eventually

16:02

you, every like a thousand miles you

16:05

can walk, but it just takes one step by

16:07

the time. Yep, that's true. So taking one

16:09

step and we got here to

16:11

the us graduated built

16:13

rotor, knows some top of

16:15

nose from BC but

16:18

you get this one. The family and

16:20

friends, you get your angel invest. Couple

16:22

visits that believe in you. That's all you need. You

16:24

just need one. Yes, that's true. Then

16:27

the rest is history. Yep.

16:30

And all you had to do is keep walking. Yeah. That's

16:33

the only ways forward. Especially imagine

16:35

if your back is against the wall. You can move,

16:37

you can go anywhere. already against the wall.

16:40

It's true. All one way. It's forward. That's

16:42

it. Yep. Keep going. No.

16:45

No. I think it's incredible in

16:47

hearing these stories. It's,

16:50

every one of 'em starts in a different

16:53

place. but they all end

16:55

in the same place, which is no,

16:57

we just kept going. just kept going. And we figured it

16:59

out. And most of the innovation

17:01

that came out of it was an accident. We didn't

17:03

set out to make all of these different

17:05

things. And I'm sure that's a similar story with rotor

17:07

where most of

17:10

the IP and the work you've developed,

17:12

you did cuz you had to not because you thought,

17:14

Oh, we should make this like Exactly. it becomes

17:17

organic because you start

17:19

having to be creative, I think outside the box

17:21

all the time, especially when you don't have the fines

17:23

right away. Yeah. Every decision

17:25

is crucial from who is going to do

17:27

this. How long do we have to finish

17:29

this aspect of the app and everything. Everything

17:32

is like, who should we bring on board? it's

17:35

just. And you started it. So as you two

17:37

your brother what was that like, bringing

17:39

more people on? What, how did that go?

17:44

I guess It just, it all

17:46

started I was part of the new chip accelerator

17:49

program. Okay. And a

17:51

lot of relations to

17:53

a new chip. Having meetings, events,

17:56

postals and mentors. LinkedIn

18:00

For sure. And

18:02

just surrounding ourselves for like-minded

18:04

individuals. Yeah, and This is key. This

18:06

is key here, because if

18:08

you don't do that, you'll waste a

18:10

lot of time because it's imagine

18:12

if you are listening to your radio station 96.5

18:16

and you put on 96.4,

18:19

for instance, and there's a lot of noise in

18:21

the background. You can't even hear the music. Yeah.

18:24

So we have to surround. With

18:27

like-minded individuals, they sync so that

18:29

way you can hear, the music clearly.

18:32

Yeah. This is exactly what we did. So

18:34

we had guys that were initially

18:36

on the team that it

18:38

just didn't fit the culture. Sure. And

18:41

it wasn't just the right pit for us.

18:44

And organically

18:46

as we kept going and learning more

18:48

understanding the business side start.

18:52

Operating and engaging with guys

18:54

in the industry from advisors.

18:57

So we were able to get our cto, which

18:59

gave us a huge boost. We

19:01

were able to bring in our marketing

19:04

eye, which was one of the latest

19:06

pick up that we had that joined the

19:08

team. Yeah, it took us to

19:11

a whole nother level as far as the

19:13

branding aspect and so on. And yeah,

19:15

all the components, they all play a

19:18

vital. In

19:20

the company. Yeah. Yeah. It starts

19:22

with a strong team. You have to have a strong team

19:25

because if not, you are not going to be

19:27

able to not only just launch and then

19:29

scale, Yeah. It's very important. Yeah. No

19:32

and as alluded to selecting

19:35

the team even, Selecting people out can be as

19:37

important as who you bring up.

19:39

It's like a marriage. It's like a. Yeah.

19:44

Which is, in one way a nice way

19:46

to start a business is with, siblings,

19:48

you're stuck with your siblings, Absolutely.

19:51

We compliment each other, so I know exactly.

19:53

And this started early on, throughout childhood,

19:55

know's c Yeah. So I'm I'm selling the games. He's getting a percentage

19:58

as well on everything that he's

20:00

selling. And now here we are,

20:03

we have this product. That

20:05

is going to impact so many different lives.

20:08

And by it all started somewhere

20:10

right. And understanding each other. So we've been

20:12

in sync. He knows my weaknesses, I

20:15

know his weaknesses and vice versa,

20:17

even our brother Lu Kenny. Yeah.

20:19

He has his friends as well and the vice

20:21

versa. It just goes like But yeah, no,

20:24

that's one of the most important lessons.

20:26

Yeah. I always think that people. Is

20:30

one thing. First of all, we don't know everything.

20:33

It doesn't matter what industry, how long you've been

20:35

in the industry. Yeah. you

20:37

have to be, you have to have intellectual

20:39

humility. Know that you dunno everything. And

20:42

most importantly, don't be afraid to admit

20:44

that you're wrong. Yeah. Yeah. The matter

20:46

of fact, the only reason why we're here is

20:48

because. I humble

20:50

enough to admit that we failed here

20:52

and here, and we need to take accountability for

20:54

that and correct it. And if we can't fix

20:56

it ourselves, we need to bring somebody that can fix

20:59

on the team. Yeah, that's literally

21:01

what changed. What I think this is one

21:03

of our biggest advantages. We have self

21:05

aware enough to understand, like he said, our

21:08

weaknesses, the rest of our team members

21:11

weaknesses, and we surround with

21:13

people ourselves, with people like that. Everybody on the

21:15

team is exactly that. It

21:17

doesn't matter how great they are, what they do, they all have

21:19

the same mentality. So we always

21:21

complement each other and we always bring more people

21:23

to round out the team to make sure

21:25

that we have a full vision of what we're doing,

21:28

not just a myopic vision.

21:30

So that is the number

21:32

one thing to me, admitting that you're wrong

21:35

because you'll make a lot of mistakes in correcting

21:38

if you can, or bringing somebody that can. Yeah,

21:41

no I still remember you.

21:44

Realizing that

21:47

it was more important to

21:50

show, when I'm interviewing for a

21:52

job or when I'm talking to an investor

21:55

to show what I failed

21:57

at. and why

22:00

I'm not that person anymore. like that

22:02

went against everything I was

22:04

taught as a your learn. Maybe I

22:06

was not taught, learned as a kid where it's

22:08

no, you show 'em what you're good at, always

22:10

show 'em the best parts. But. No,

22:13

you're exactly right. Show up to an

22:15

investor, show up to a job interview

22:17

and tell 'em, Look, here's all the ways I messed

22:19

up and here's all the things I learned from 'em. I'm not gonna make

22:21

those mistakes again. I'm

22:25

gonna make some other ones guaranteed.

22:27

But, I'm pretty good at learning from the times I mess

22:29

up Exactly. Yeah.

22:32

And you mentioned, you guys. Willing

22:35

to admit when you don't know something. And

22:37

I think, we see this in a lot

22:39

of different industries that people

22:41

who have been in there for a long time

22:44

just assume they know how it's supposed to work.

22:47

Everything works this way. This is how it always

22:49

will work. And it's

22:51

people who come in from the outside who are like, Why?

22:54

I don't understand why it works this way.

22:56

Why do you have to, do X, Y,

22:58

and Z that are able to actually see

23:00

change? And I'm willing to bet that's

23:03

a big reason why you guys have the traction

23:05

you do. Yeah. Very true. Organically

23:07

as humans, we were all

23:10

born seekers. We want

23:12

answers and so on, and

23:15

it kills me when, for instance, one of the

23:17

issues with a lot of entrepreneurs is

23:19

not being able to do that as for help. Yeah.

23:23

Yeah. They can figure out everything themselves.

23:25

Yep. Which is completely wrong. You

23:27

were spend countless hours trying to learn.

23:30

Yeah. You can learn those skills, which is great,

23:32

but let's say for instance, marketing,

23:35

right? Let's say there's someone

23:37

that's been doing this for 20 plus. It's

23:40

so much better. Instead

23:43

of hiring outsourcing the marketing

23:45

and bringing someone in that you

23:47

can learn from practically

23:49

on a day to day basis. Start

23:51

from point A to point B and learn every

23:54

step of the way. You learn so much.

23:56

I learn, I'm learning so much towards marketing now.

23:59

I'm learning so much applying

24:01

with the service providers. Yeah. By talking

24:04

directly with. Why? Because

24:06

I cannot find all the answers

24:08

from Google. Yeah. Industry's

24:10

completely different. It's not yeah. Systematics,

24:12

you'll be able to get a lot of data

24:14

and so on. No, you'll buy all.

24:17

We bought so many different reports, but

24:19

there's just crucial and

24:21

missing points that only

24:24

the guy that is there on a day to day basis on

24:26

a job can give you those answers. Yeah. Yeah. What

24:28

we're. And that's what social we're

24:30

just touching on as well, being able to

24:33

know that we just don't know it all.

24:35

And it, and then from there, you are able to

24:37

pretty much achieve anything. Yeah. No,

24:41

I think that's, that's well

24:44

said, It's Weird, once you realize

24:46

that and are able to actually start living it. And

24:50

being comfortable in

24:52

that is, is a huge

24:54

differentiator. Especially in

24:56

startups, we're we've talked around

24:59

a little bit of, rotor and how the story

25:01

behind it, and so people can probably guess, but

25:04

what exactly is rotor?

25:08

Yeah, so basically rotor, quoting

25:10

New York Weekly here is the Uber for

25:12

assistant Uber of roadside assistant.

25:14

So basically the approach

25:17

came from the mindset. On

25:21

the customer side, right? On the drivers,

25:24

Yeah. We usually get stranded and we never

25:26

know when that's gonna happen, right? So

25:29

when that happens, you need somebody who

25:31

can come with certified, who

25:33

can come to help you, but at the same

25:35

time, you have the control in your hands, not

25:37

the opposite way. You have to ask

25:39

for help, and then your insurance

25:41

providers or whoever. It's

25:43

going to control the logistics and you just stay at the mercy

25:46

waiting to see what's gonna happen. Yep.

25:48

Yep. Putting the power back in your head, which

25:50

we call like safety in your hands, you'll

25:53

be able to decide all of those factors

25:56

for before you accept the service, right? Yeah. Over

25:59

the service. And the same goes for the other

26:01

side. So the spec, this is

26:03

where it becomes the Uber so the specialist can

26:05

use his skill set. Yeah. Like

26:07

I said, this is a dangerous. Oh yeah.

26:10

You put your life on the line every time you are on

26:12

the freeway with the traffic at

26:14

70 miles per hour plus. So you

26:17

really have to be careful with if

26:19

you're not in like position where people can see you

26:22

and stuff like that. So

26:24

they wanted the autonomy back. This is the one

26:26

thing that industry has failed to realize They're

26:28

trying to keep them constrained in

26:31

like their employees and contractors.

26:33

Like we have to work on a schedule

26:35

and have a big salary and stuff like, When

26:37

they are seeing all other industries being disrupted.

26:41

We have Uber now taxi drivers,

26:43

and everybody can now monetize that gig.

26:45

Economies in full effect. And

26:47

everybody from influencers, everybody wants

26:50

their own platform, wants to do things their way

26:52

to some degree. Yeah. So

26:55

it's a natural fit. So we bring both

26:57

needs and that's what we are providing.

26:59

So basically we are providing, like for this,

27:03

Five services with charging, doing

27:05

the next one coming soon, which is towing.

27:07

Tire change, do lock

27:10

gas per fuel and

27:12

also jam. Those are

27:14

the services that the service providers will

27:16

be providing, and it

27:19

gives the customer the, and this is also a key differentiator.

27:21

Not only do you have this on the men's side and on the emergency

27:24

side. Yeah. But you can also schedule this.

27:27

Oh, so if you have

27:29

a flat tire that you know, or maybe

27:31

you went out of town and you're coming back and you need

27:33

somebody to jump your battery. Yeah.

27:35

You can schedule that ahead of time and

27:37

have somebody two days. The moment you travel

27:40

from, I don't know from Vegas back to LA

27:42

Yeah. To help you with that so

27:44

you can schedule those

27:46

services too. So it gives them more

27:48

of a. More volume.

27:51

Yeah. Also work with, because just working

27:53

on the man's side, you're not gonna have as many

27:55

requests every day. It's not consistent.

27:58

You can really business that way. So

28:01

now we're bringing, we're unlocking the other demands

28:03

that was not tapped, and

28:05

we're trying to bring all this other services to

28:08

compliment that. Okay. Okay.

28:10

And I'm, all the times I've used roadside assistance.

28:13

it's always been my insurance

28:15

provider has paid for it. So

28:18

are you all then coordinating with

28:20

insurance companies to try to be

28:22

a provider for them? Yeah.

28:25

That's a great, that's a great question. The goal

28:27

is initially as we go to the market now

28:29

on the B2C side, it

28:32

will be just like Soso was saying like Uber.

28:34

So you can, yeah, you wanna go as you need service,

28:37

but also we'll offer a yearly me.

28:41

You can pay $9 a month

28:43

or a hundred dollars a year, and

28:45

you get up to two services initially. And

28:47

then our goal is to increase those as well.

28:50

Yeah. Gain much more traction and

28:52

be able to provide perks and so on to our

28:55

community and users. But

28:57

here's the catch from the B2B side. Our

28:59

technology can be also used by service

29:02

providers, like in just insurance company.

29:04

Who's your insurance? S

29:07

A S A A. So let's just say for

29:10

S A and Rotor, we have a partnership.

29:12

They can easily wide label technology. Yep.

29:15

And licensing fee. So

29:17

whenever now you go on a rotor app,

29:20

all you have to do is type in your policy number.

29:22

And s A gets notified

29:24

whenever any services requested by

29:26

you and they take care of all the billing for

29:28

you so you don't have to pay anything out of pocket

29:31

and so on. Think of rotor day operating

29:33

almost like PayPal for e-commerce. Yeah.

29:35

Yeah. You go to multiple stores,

29:37

you shop online, but then when it's time

29:39

to pay, you check out PayPal. So we

29:41

operate that way on the

29:44

b2b. Okay. No

29:46

that's cool. Yeah, Yeah.

29:50

And you guys said you're launching in Los

29:52

Angeles or have launched? Here

29:54

it's available. And you should download, by the way.

29:56

Yeah. Even though you're not here in Los

29:58

Angeles, but you can download and

30:01

the goal is we are looking to analytics

30:04

and base on demand. So

30:06

we'll start targeting other major

30:08

cities in. So

30:11

let's say if you're in Chicago, for instance,

30:13

and we see a huge demand in Chicago,

30:15

we're like, Oh, it's looking pretty good here.

30:17

Let's deploy and make it available in Chicago. No

30:20

that's good to know. So our listeners,

30:22

wherever they're at, download the app

30:25

on Apple Store and

30:27

Google Android. And then based on

30:29

where where we're downloading or where

30:31

we're creating accounts, no,

30:33

you can download it. You just won't

30:35

have service providers at

30:38

that particular location. So in

30:42

la but by gathering

30:44

and just getting the demand

30:46

that we need. So we'll be able to see

30:48

peek and point, Okay, this is a right fit.

30:51

Think we should make the move to the city. And then, this

30:53

is for you. This is giving the power back to

30:55

the community. it's the app built for the community and

30:57

power by the community. So that's what

30:59

we need. No, Yeah. No, and I love the idea

31:01

that, if you want to have this

31:04

in your town find 500

31:06

a year your closest Facebook friends and tell

31:08

'em all to download. Is there, to that,

31:11

and maybe there's not. By

31:13

the way, App is

31:15

free. Okay, that's good. What, is there

31:17

a threshold for win? How many

31:19

people in a city before

31:22

you it's worth it to move in

31:24

there. I think our threshold

31:26

is around 2000.

31:29

Okay. Okay. I

31:33

think I can find 2000 people around DC Yeah,

31:37

let's do We'll bring it to dc It's actually

31:39

a great it's a good market as well. Yeah.

31:42

Especially because everybody drives so crazy

31:45

and so there's a constant need. Or some sort

31:47

of service Yeah. This is great. This is

31:49

great. I love it. Love it. Yeah.

31:51

No, and I think the most exciting part is,

31:54

connecting this

31:56

these kids who play basketball

31:59

and. Just didn't

32:02

wanna be stuck in a bad neighborhood.

32:04

Waiting for somebody to fix their car with. Right

32:07

Now, solving that problem

32:09

for other people. You didn't go to school for roadside

32:11

assistance. You didn't, you don't have degrees

32:14

in automotive. Technology.

32:16

I don't think I, I only

32:19

checked you two's degrees. I didn't check

32:21

your brothers But like you

32:23

saw a problem you're solving it. And I think that's

32:25

an exciting exciting story. Thank

32:28

you. It means a lot. It means

32:30

a lot to. Finally

32:34

the lights at end. The Exactly.

32:36

And that's the thing. So yeah you raised a

32:39

precede. You've got a solid

32:41

team. You're launch, you're launched in

32:43

la what's the next six,

32:45

12 months look like? Yeah.

32:48

Other than DC because I gotta get 2000

32:50

people, so you pencil that in.

32:52

But one of the cities where

32:54

it's just the worst too, between hassles

32:57

and the nation. Of course we

32:59

are already in California, so we'll take it also

33:01

to San Francisco, but we

33:03

are launching in Houston, in Dallas as well.

33:06

Okay. The worst cities too, between US

33:08

Nation. And then the goal from

33:10

there is continuing to grow.

33:13

In the next six months we open to,

33:16

to work with, other players in the industry

33:18

as well, like we were mentioning. We can providers.

33:21

Yeah. They can, we can work together and improve the

33:23

industry. And yeah, it just,

33:25

taking one day at a time and and being present

33:27

even in this, and you have to be present. That's

33:30

true. Because the past,

33:32

it's a reference in the future simply.

33:35

Yep. Expectations and many more.

33:38

Yep. So our goal is to be present and focus

33:40

on the things that we have right in front of us

33:42

and improving them. Yep. And

33:45

taking one day at a time. And I think eventually

33:47

when you do that, that's the key to ultimately

33:51

happiness and. Are

33:53

you able to achieve anything? It's true. It's

33:55

true. Yeah. No,

33:58

and I I know we're getting close on time

34:00

here and is there anything we missed out?

34:02

Cause otherwise that was a great place to end. The,

34:09

actually that's everything.

34:11

Just like you was just mentioning,

34:14

just download the app and go. And

34:18

Apple store. This is for

34:20

you. It's for the people and it's following

34:23

whatever you need, wherever you go,

34:25

whenever you need any type of services,

34:28

right? Your pocket and you don't have

34:30

to wait for countless hours is

34:32

here for you. Let's improve and change

34:34

this industry together. Applying also

34:37

to the users and the service providers.

34:39

Everyone that is listening right now, this is

34:41

for you. Rotor is here and let's.

34:44

Ready to roll. Cool. And

34:46

we'll in we'll include the links. They'll be in the description

34:49

here. So you guys can click on 'em,

34:51

download the app, check out their website.

34:53

And also the Instagram page. And

34:56

the Instagram we post Daily, Pretty

34:58

much twice a day. Yeah. And

35:01

you get the insights on what's coming. Like

35:03

we're gonna have a big announcement today actually,

35:07

Okay. You should name and

35:09

the next and tomorrow too. Those two,

35:11

There's two big announcements coming. Okay. Sounds

35:14

good. Yeah, we'll include a link there as

35:16

well. Alrighty. It was a

35:18

pleasure. It was a pleasure. It was a pleasure too. Thank

35:21

you both for being here. Take care.

35:24

You as well. You as well.