Transcript
Speaker: There we go. There we go. Very good. I like this music. Yeah, me too, Brian. Me too. Oh, hello, Mr. Mandelbaum. How are you? I am doing amazing. How are you? I'm live from sunny Florida. Yeah, man. For so many years, we were so close. So close. You had to move. You had to move down to Florida.
Speaker: You know, I, it's, uh, what's the weather there in Chicago right now? Uh, let's see. It's, I don't know, likely in the forties. Let's just call it that. All right. Just 80 degrees here, but I have enough. So it's great. There you go. Well, Hey, that was the same deal in Chicago. Yeah, exactly. Same thing. Yeah, exactly. Better view. Better view. Well said, Brian, I have the pleasure of knowing you for quite a long time.
Speaker: Why don't you tell the audience, those that are watching the Oh Hello VOD, those that are listening to the Oh Hello Pod, who this wonderful entrepreneur, this friend of mine, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with right now? Who are you? Why are you here? Uh, who am I? It's a great question. Um, I think who I am, it depends on the stage I am in life, but who I am right now is a husband. Uh, I'm a dedicated father.
Speaker: I truly love spending time with my kids, but more importantly than all of that stuff, I am a sponge. I think that now more than ever, I have this insatiable need to want to learn more and more about things that I don't know about more than I ever have in my entire career. And like different things fascinate me and it's really about
Speaker: where I can dedicate my time to learning about those things. And I only really dedicate my time to learning about them because I care to know the answer. Like I care to be not an expert, but extremely knowledgeable. It's like this like weird place in my life where like I get this kick and I like I'm up late at night, you know, thinking about ways to whether it's improving my own leadership skills or
Speaker: learning about the car industry. I just have this insatiable need to want to know and try to be extremely knowledgeable. And I'm an innovator. I want to always think about, could it be done differently? And I hope that that part of this chapter in my life doesn't change of who I am right now.
Speaker: I love that response. I love being able to say that you're a sponge, staying curious, spending hours learning, listening, viewing, engaging with people because the more you surround yourself and listen to what other people have to say and what other people have done, it helps you as an innovator. It helps you as a CEO, as a founder of several different tech companies. So I really appreciate that.
Speaker: If you asked me that question 10 years ago, I probably would tell you I knew everything. And now I know that as I get older and wiser, I realize that there's so much more that I don't know.
Speaker: And it's it's actually fun. It becomes self realization, self self actualization. And as we get older, we just realized, holy shit, there's a lot more to life than what we thought there was 10 years ago when we're the same age. So I can relate for sure. Yep, yep.
Speaker: What just defines you? How would you characterize your skillset, your leadership, your being an innovator? When you think, if someone said off the bat, who is Brian? Tell us about Attain Data. Tell us about Attain. Tell us about Clover. When you think about you as a person and you as a business leader, if someone said, I need one or two characteristics, what would those be? Of me as a person, what defines me as a leader, I'd say the number one thing that people, I'd like people to say about me is I'm,
Speaker: extremely loyal and I actually value loyalty as a currency. And maybe that is what's helped me be more fast thinking and fast executing as an entrepreneur because I build teams and those teams are people that have been working with me for a long period of time.
Speaker: And there's this, uh, level of trust and I built new loyalties and new relationships in my new startup at attain that I did in clear stream. And when I was on the agency side, um, but I really value people that want to work with me and trust. And with that, I deliver a tremendous amount of trust back that they are going to.
Speaker: that we are in sync and we are rowing in the same direction. So to me, leadership is about how do you get that? And how do you get that? You know, how do you get that at scale? That's what defines me as an individual. I love leading. I don't love what I don't what I don't love. And I don't think what's right is I don't love telling people what to do.
Speaker: because I want people to just want to do it. You know what I mean? To me, that's a sign of a great leader. That means that you trust your people and they're loyal to you. You're loyal to them because you're able to just say, I trust you. Go and perform. Go and just do it. Be smart. Be talented. Just go in. If you make a mistake, you pick yourself back up. Just have the courage to do that.
Speaker: That's that's what comes that's what that is the whole trust factor is like making mistakes are awesome. Like, are we allowed to curse on this podcast? Why not? Sure. Okay. Yes, of course. I'm like, so my whole social contract with my team members, the people I work with is like, don't fuck me. I won't fuck you. Like we're fine. Like, like, you're not you're not doing that. You're not fucking me. So like, so we're good. Like, just just try. Just try. Just try. Just try.
Speaker: When you as a mentor, as someone who has innovated and led so many different teams and built different teams, what excites you about mentorship? When you think about just you telling your teams just try like what gets you excited? I will tell you the number one thing that that really makes me but motivates me is mentorship is actually watching people grow. I it actually is the number one thing that
Speaker: Making investors' money, don't really give it. Don't give it. That's great. That's fine. And frankly, basically making other people successful is what motivates me. So it's not about the money for me. It's the bragging rights that come with making other people money, but it's also the bragging rights that come with seeing people that have evolved their career, working alongside of you, with you,
Speaker: to do great things. I have people that I've worked with 20 years ago who are C -suite executives at agencies, holding companies in the industry that you and I are in. And I, it is, I like get so giddy when they get promoted and they get big jobs. I am like, there's nobody happier than I am to watch somebody be, frankly, the best they can be.
Speaker: And I always say to the people that I work with, my goal is that whatever time that we spend together professionally, that you leave better than when you where you came professional. I love that. Like if I did that, that alone, whether the company is a failure, your whatever, whatever that is. But if you if you are better at what you get a job that is just
Speaker: you know, 10x better or incrementally better and your career is better because of the time we spent together. That is where I can put my head down at night and say, you know, this was a great outcome. This is, this is, this person is spent their time wisely. And I did my part, hopefully maybe I didn't do anything. That's also, it could be luck, but I get such a kick out of people evolving their careers.
Speaker: When I'm working with them, it is like, it is intoxicating. You could see the excitement. You could feel the enthusiasm that comes with that. I couldn't agree more. It is, it is the greatest feeling watching it's planting, it's planting seeds and watching the plant grow.
Speaker: It's a sense of, it's almost a sense of like paternalism or paternity where as a father, you just see these amazing people at any stage of life, whether they're older than you, the same age, younger, just seeing them experience those intrinsic developments that come with it. It's amazing. I agree. I had a planner come into my office that was in her early 20s.
Speaker: You know the person, but I won't mention the name here. And she said to me in my office at the agency side, I said, okay, so how can I help your career? And she goes, I want your job one day. I go, that is incredible. That is an amazing plan. I go, okay, let's do that. It's got you there. Yeah, let's do that.
Speaker: Let's do that because hopefully I'll move up to so that's great. Well said. Well, that leads to the next question. Just when you look back and if you're talking about the conversation that you would have with a planner, what would you tell your younger self? What would you tell your 25 year old self, your 30 year old self? If I had to replay it again in my head, I would say advice that I would give myself or anybody younger would be don't
Speaker: This one's gonna sound a little bit played out, but there's two things. Don't be afraid to fail. And frankly, failure is totally awesome as long as you fail forward and learn from those mistakes. I think a lot of people in this day and age are so terrorized from a failure. They think it's a personal blemish or a professional blemish.
Speaker: And I just, I don't think that true leaders think of it that way. And the other thing, and this is gonna be a little bit out of the box thinking is break some rules, break some rules.
Speaker: don't break laws, break rules. I think rules are bullshit. I couldn't agree more. So the first one, that wasn't easy. That was that was your layup. This is your three pointer. This is your this is almost like a half court shot that you're saying, I agree with you, break rules, break shit completely. I think it's better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. I think that miraculous, miraculous things happen when you just say, you know what,
Speaker: Fuck it. Let's just do it this way. Like who says we can't do it this way? There's no rule that says we can't do it this way. And I try to apply that. I wish I knew that sooner because if I knew that sooner, I think I would have gotten to some places faster because I'm because I've been so mentally trapped in like, oh, well, this is it may not even be a written rule. This is just the the societal rule that's going on. I'm like, well, why do we do it this way? Like, why should we? I think that's where that's the
Speaker: That's the innovation spark. I went like this because that's the innovation spark. That's the sponge. That's the, as you continue to ascend and to create and do more.
Speaker: You now have those learnings that help you, hence paying it forward, giving back, having that sense of altruism by being a mentor, helping people, helping your teams, helping everyone ascend to take over your job, to be a founder, to be a CEO, to be an AMD, to be a senior software engineer, whatever it might be. Totally, totally. With that said, Brian, who are some of your professional mentors and why? So it goes back to stages in life.
Speaker: I would say like, from like a, oh, let's go early in life. So like I had, so in, when I was, what people don't know about me is I've been working since I was 15 years old in like, in business, working, not like, you know, like running lemonade stand, but I've had like, I've had jobs where I collect the W2 paycheck. And one of my first bosses when I was in high school, I used to ride my bicycle to this office after high school.
Speaker: Cause I didn't have a driver's license yet. Yep. And a 15. Yep. His name was Aaron Kaufman. He was the, he was an entrepreneur himself. He was in his twenties. I was 15. I thought he was like 50 years old. He was like 21, but he really taught me. I always think about like what got me on the kick to where I am today. I think he is sort of like the, the, the seminal, uh, mentor that I've had in my life to really pull the brass ring and go for things.
Speaker: that's one of my mentors and I never really talk about him a lot because it's like a very obscure name that no one knows and he's actually a very successful movie producer. Right now he's not even in the industry that I grew up in. But he is a he is definitely somebody I've looked to as a mentor historically, as like the like quintessential who is the iconic mentor that everybody might know, I think like a Reed Hoffman, a co founder of LinkedIn, because
Speaker: You know, he, he's been always very insightful. Like, like I love that his ability to have like perspectives that nobody else has had, um, around like scaling businesses, creating networks. It's just like his writings, his podcasts. I find them to really hit home with me and help drive how I should think about things. But then I have like all these other.
Speaker: you know, outside forces like the typical Elon Musk. Not that I think that the way that he's a rule breaker, which is also something that I appreciate, but I think that he sort of has summed up what it is to be an entrepreneur, which is eating glass without water and just always being prepared, being prepared, because it's tough. You got to be resilient, you know?
Speaker: And I think that people think that it's so easy and it certainly isn't. And he does talk about how hard business really is. It looks glossy, but it is not for the faint of heart.
Speaker: Um, but if you are resilient, it's so rewarding. Sure. Any other, any other mentors that have had a big impact on you, like your first, your first manager that you want to be able to shout out, call out, if not, it's okay. There's Aaron was that, that first manager of mine. I knew that. Yeah. So, you know, I'm lucky enough to have mentors on my board of directors.
Speaker: I have, uh, I've, I've been able to bring mentors into my world and have them really help guide me. So I have two on my board right now are that there are people that have had historical relationships. I have an amazing board of directors and all of them. I look for them for wisdom, but lawn chow is somebody who's in Chicago and he's been on my, he was investor of my old company. He is on the board of attain right now. And what, what I, what I love about lawn is.
Speaker: He's not from this industry that you and I are in. He's just has tremendous amount of wisdom. When I tell him about the sky falling, he's like, oh, I've seen this before. This is not like, you're not telling me something that is, this is not novel. And I'm so appreciative of having a mentor like that and to give me some, and he's always got the wisdom that I need to ground me. And then we recently added Jonah Goodhart to our board of directors.
Speaker: And he's been a mentor of mine for the past couple of years, just really being like a whisperer about where he thinks the world is going. We share a lot of the same value sets when it comes to team building the ad tech and marketing technology ecosystem. I'm lucky. I'm lucky to have these people in my sphere. It's amazing, Brian.
Speaker: What are, as you know, there are 50 different charitable causes that are integrated into the Oh, hello platform. It doesn't matter what, but specifically, are there different causes that are near and dear to your heart? They don't have to be part of our platform. Just something that you're passionate about just from a philanthropic component. So there's two charities. Um, one is on your list. The other one, I may not be on your list, but that's okay.
Speaker: Okay, let's change it. One is the American Cancer Society. That's a big one for my family. So we have a charitable trust where we make strategic donations on a regular basis. One is the American Cancer Society. The other one is a fairly
Speaker: well known, but maybe people don't know enough about it called Sandy Hook Promise, which is a gun control charity after the tragedy in Sandy Hook that my wife and I are super passionate about around creating sensible gun regulation in the United States. And then like, I, we're, we're huge
Speaker: Um, fans of giving back to children's related charities. So, but not at the sizable level, St. Jude's lurries. Uh, I, there's nothing more devastating than seeing a sick child. I agree. Well, thank you for sharing those. Uh, any other parting words of wisdom or advice that you want to give to the Oh, hello community? That's a good one. I would say that really it's all about doing.
Speaker: not thinking if you're interested in pursuing whatever it is, don't spend a lot of time thinking about it. Spend more time talking to yourself what you're going to do to make it happen. I think that once you do, that is where when you have action, you have a reaction. Without the action, there is nothing. There is absolutely nothing. Talk is cheap.
Speaker: Do those things. That's the, that was my biggest advices. When somebody says to me, I want to start a business, I say, okay, I think you should go on legal zoom and start the business. Yeah. Well, I don't, I didn't have the, I go, no, no, no. Once you pay the $500, you're in business. So you got to now, if you're not going to be in business, you have to wind down the company. So go do it.
Speaker: Very well said. I appreciate this. Those listening and watching appreciate this. Brian, thank you my friend. Appreciate you. Have a great weekend. Talk to you soon. You too. Thanks everybody. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching.
