Gadgetory

and we are live good morning good evening good afternoon good day internet welcome to another week where we hang out with Alexis Ohanian the host co founder of reddit host of small empires co founder of reddit and a whole bunch of other stuff ah perky and Kirk yeah helped create small empires which is an awesome show on the internet about startups hosted by Alexis Ohanian the dude and our hangout this week the episode was about actually it was a really interesting episode watcher this morning uh it was on a company called sandwich or sandwich video who makes those k starter videos or IndieGoGo videos or just like startup videos uh and they're actually pretty interesting because I have backed Kickstarter projects and I've backed IndieGoGo projects and it sucks to admit but a lot of those projects I backed because of the video like the video is compelling like oh this company seems legit their video is good you know that's like what Kickstarter is it's like oh do you have a good video and even in the episode that that cooler uh they they fail they flopped and then they were back a few months later and they shattered Kickstarter's record because they had a good video um so let's talk about this company Alexis what do you think about them and what's you know what's the deal with them I was really pleased um I really like I Adams hell guy there's a founder with the great beard um I I am I have become more and more aware of their work over the last couple of years because I've seen more and more companies that I've advised basically trip over themselves to try to get a sandwich video made it's a point worth come otone me like or this idea of a sandwich video there are plenty of people like the cooler guys like people might see that and think all right it's like a sandwich video I mean it wasn't per se but what sandwich has done has really created a tight video which is like a um it's like the 21st century infomercial it's like you know their tape you're so authentic right um you know I think is actually an interesting part of the whole thing it's like yeah a good video will make me more inclined to donate to a Kickstarter or IndieGoGo or even just like be interested in the project but on the converse I'd like a bad video I'm just I'm like running for the hills you know what I mean like it are you just have like a good infographic or like even just like a good paragraph than a bad video like a bad video it's like you don't even take yourself seriously right I think that's that's also partly because Kickstarter's is on like that you hit the project and it's like nice full title and then boom you're already you're hit with that video right away um but I do agree with you like if some company has some jank video you're like okay these guys can't even afford or create a good video why would I believe in the project and I think that worst works inversely to which is why I sandwich was so successful and it's interesting the way they got started to for those that haven't seen the episode yet I'm going to spoil it for you they were they they made like a nap and he the guy Adam his name is uh he was starred in his own video and then this sort of got his own ball rolling as people were like oh we want our own videos made and now it seems like a majority of those great Kickstarter videos are done by sandwich um and I had no idea they did things for square and the coin video they did on and now I kind of I kind of want to go back and watch some of them because yeah he's in all of them like that's such a good troll he creates the videos he is the man behind this and he's just right there in front of you selling you these things or actually not really selling you this these things just straight up this is a thing here's how it works do whatever you want now it's just like explaining and then length suggesting like I think it's dope I don't know you know like which is the way that it's it's just nice because it's almost like Alexis like what you're saying it's like the modern-day infomercial but it's like it's almost more of like a conversational like it's like here's it's kind of like talking to a friend it's like here's the thing they're like here's until graphics that I made that explain the thing that I like but basically I'm just telling you about what I the restroom I don't know again if you want like I yeah that's exactly the way look I mean if they did it like billy mays i think it would fail oh here is something like this is this is very unique to the world we live in that where people are craving like authenticity and so even and yeah i mean everyone knows these are pitch videos for products right there approach is like okay look we all know this is a pitch video but when I just talked like a dude yeah basically uh Alexis do you think you think they have the right business model approach I mean they've got it I got to be taking you know five ten something percent equity in order for them to be you know make it worth it he said they did 50 videos in a year that's one a week and was there a team of nine he said uh you know but granted their videos kick ass and they usually really do help like he was even saying it's like as it's almost as if sandwich is launching these products for these companies do you think that that approach is a way to do it or do you think they it would be better off you know in the long term to get a huge sum up front like charge like 50 grand video or something well then well I mean they are there are some clients who they are charging on some upfront but it lets them basically lets them pay the bills to pay employees and take the bigger bets on the upstarts with the equity revenue share thing I mean I think like look this is if they weren't doing this this would be like every other just about every other production company I have encountered and and none of those businesses can really scale because when you talk King just pure revenue like you're only going to be able to charge so much and then when you do you have to hire a certain number of people in order to get the product to get the thing made and and that's a business that like fundamenta doesn't fundamentally does not scale because you just have to always be hiring more people as you're creating as you're growing you have to hire more people and you still have to keep quality up really high those are two very hard things you if you're talking about building like a billion-dollar company it's doable but it's really really hard and it takes a really really long time so I love the fact that they're thinking about other ways to make money that are working with their partners taking bigger risks but potentially getting bigger rewards right if they make the video for the next Facebook forgive the expression they could very quickly find themselves with a lot of cash flow but oh in some part of the company right yeah I think it's like we kind of make this point the video but like there is no reason why they shouldn't be factored in equity wise along with everyone else like like we're saying if there's a bad video it's as bad as having a really like a bug in your code that makes it it so every time you try to order something thing crash it's like people won't use it again or then then we use it at all so it's like it makes sense that they should they should be a part of it it makes it just I don't know it was the first time that it actually makes sense and it will help them make good business I just it's so interesting because I can't think of another company that does something like this they're able to get their hands tied with so many different companies of so like it's it's kind of like a really awesome business idea and I can it be done with any other type of service besides like this video thing like I like I guess like a PR company maybe but PR companies never ask for like a share of the company right oh yeah I mean the only the only thing that we were able to find were in like the 2000s before the first bubble burst they were a lot of design in like web design firms who were taking equity um and you know since antiquity lawyers have been taking equity and exchange for work right because legal teas are so expensive right that makes it yeah week the thing is if I think if they brought this model to you know there are lot of production companies who do like small businesses of all stripes and if they brought this to like a baker or you know even if it was like Melissa's cupcakes like a big Baker who I think the response would be like what who the hell are you and what the hell are you talking about yeah Vince is the startup world in that sort of equity trading and like talking a lot about equity valuation is just part of it almost seems more part of the startup world than the other sorts of entrepreneurism or entrepreneurship so it's like sandwich happens to be in a perfect space for this to be happening so I can see like a tech PR firm trying to do something like this but like the tech PR firm would be pushing the sandwich video yes yeah yeah basically they are literally like the production company they're doing everything to make that video create it right there creating like part of the product right right you can in a sense i mean canvas can this business continued lasting like we'll each order continue go ahead Alexis well it's less hey there's there's definitely crowdfunding part excuse me and there's that who talked about this in the August episode yeah um be your it's one thing you know it's great to set expectations really high which is what these great videos too it's another thing to actually meet them now hi mm-hmm it's it's hard um in you know but that's only a portion of what they're doing right there they're a bunch of startups that have actually built products that are ready to ship that are great that they just want help spreading the word around these tend to be software ones but regardless um it's really I think what's interesting to me is a PR firm can't really demonstrably show that they had an impact I mean it's like if it's a cool I've been doing this for a lot like if you've got a cool thing peak that you're launching people are going to want to write about it so so it's more like how do you how do you help us create a cool thing or a good thing or an interesting thing and and sandwich is actually creating that and I think because there's so much competition now with early-stage invent things like seed investors the first bit of investing I look at this I'm referencing all kinds of stuff like part pick I'm Kabul that seat coming from different angel investors and and so you go around with the hat you know 10 15 20 30 people might be in your seed round and these kinds of investors really have to compete over cool deals over good companies that have sort of traction and height because there's plenty of money to go around for these companies and so if you're one of the lucky companies that has the height you basically can take your pick of investors or at least has the whatever is the promise is the magic whatever you call um and having someone like sandwich in the mix is really interesting because like Joe dentist who's like an angel investor on the side isn't gonna his ten thousand dollars or his fifty thousand dollars in angel investing is really just dumb money sorry Joe the dentist and you can't have a ton of value that early stage company but if sandwich comes then it offers to do this video for some portion that's hugely valuable to the company rights and all of a sudden they're acting in a world of investors where they're bringing value that like ninety-five percent of early or five percent of early stage investors can't provide the valuable knowledge can yeah oh like no one is asking you don't ask an investor or even usually developer or even sometimes to see you know to frame and tell the story of what you're trying to do and sometimes people make great stuff without even realizing how great it is or how like how to tell people how great it is and like I can see like sandwich making these videos they're like here's how to use this thing it's awesome I I would imagine that there there have been certain occasions where the people who hire them to do it didn't even realize how dope the things of t-birds presenta you know what I mean like oh I can explain like push room look isn't a great example of that because pusher pizza is like oh look i push it this pizza but like i don't know even just like like seeing the thing in action is so much different than hearing about it is that make sense no i totally agree with you and it's it's just I guess it's fair to say that sandwich has like a very like they play an important role for these companies like sure like like Alexis you were saying the ten-thousand-dollar see is like it's cool but it's like okay you have ten thousand dollars in cash what are you gonna do but coming like the videos that get made and his like creative direction he's like effectively creating the product in video form for them and that is like invaluable okay you really can't put a price on that well you can you charge for equity but well it's like it's like a pitch to customers like and I think a lot of times sometimes when I'm seeing people get their start up for their idea it sounds like they're pitching to an investor and I don't want to hear someone talking to it if like I don't I don't care about most of the things that as like a consumer I don't care about standing yeah it keeps really good at telling that consumer facing story yeah because that's it's basically just following the truth about what it's like to use right and it was interesting uh the dude with the beard I think someone someone in the episode was saying that a lot of the companies they work with there are products that they would actually like use you know so cool to see that they are you know sort of enjoying and not just like they're not just doing it for the money they actually enjoy these products and they get to sort of put them in the best light possible it's pretty interesting yeah really cool though so Alexis you think they're gonna be able to like continue going on others like Kickstarter projects happening you know all the time but this can't last forever Kandra though I mean Facebook's been around for 10 years so yeah but like advertising has been around since prostitution started that's also true you mean like there's always been somebody saying hey here's the good thing go over here so then do they move away from doing just start up videos like startup company videos to like I don't know making TV commercials for it they've done TV commercials for the half next they've done TV commercials for mostly like internet-based companies and but I think that they've also done some bigger stuff with just normal grants that like you know just because they're good and friends want to be involved so is it are they special because their videos are so good like his jet is that just what it is is that the magic I think I think so good like commercials are Russian quality of commercials is fairly across the board great you know what I mean like their videos are production-wise on the level of commercials but yeah the tenor of them and the tone of them is so distinct and so aligned with the way that it seems like many p it seems like it resonates with many many many people and so I don't think that there's they're not necessarily like objectively better than anyone else they're just better at doing exactly what they do you know what I mean like like Chipotle wouldn't want to chipotle mostly does like stop motion ads right like they wouldn't even hire sandwich to do like a stop motion chipotle ad but like if you want someone to beautifully and simply present what your product service or idea is then that's when you go to sandwich and Trinity that's not if that's at least my takeaway it's like a the best I what they do bar none hands down I guess it's only a matter of time before a competitor comes along but this this Adam's creative vision is like that's everything of the company like he was on one person before you know like he was just one human with and he still sort of has like all the you know he seems like I don't know when you guys were there did you watch them film any videos by any chance or now we had unfortunately we weren't able to actually go on set we had to have a stringer in la go on set but I think basically it's like he has a team of folks who work for him and then and you know I think it's like I think that he's found a way to uh make sure that there's a consistent vision while being able to trust people and it's you know like a typical creative director like we have it's like a like a Neil I at the verge it's like he's guiding all right a little bit more than then maybe an editor-in-chief would write and he's also he's daring his own videos took any time starring uh many times writing many times directing right but I think they figured out a way to provide a level of autonomy to their directors it's pretty admirable while still maintaining Adams a vision you ask it's crazy it's a crazy crazy company that he started I mean and there he's everywhere he's really really everywhere at seven I saw him on my TV a couple days ago on hulu wow that's a because like oh great wait he was wait he's in the hulu add know he's on carmax add that was playing on hulu ah couch football as weekend yeah it's okay yeah how you did you ever wow wow um okay cool well I guess there's nothing there's not much left to say about this company other than that they're awesome and Adam is a really awesome creative genius um yeah I mean you guys have anything else to add or should we wrap it up um adam has a really dope son he was jumping all around the office it was just a cool little dude he's like her haha shout out to have and I'm sorry miss billing Salter everywhere break did you break any electronics in the process of you spilling the seltzer I missed so many electronics but I just there was just it was just everywhere everywhere except for electricity cheese well thanks for everyone that uh that tune in Thank You Alexis and Kirk for sitting in and chatting with us um we will probably be back next week with another one of these what-what everything it's Thursday okay so we'll be back on Thursday worldstar worldstar thanks star okay star you heard it here first or maybe on Alexis's instagram or front back account but there is a small empires episode on worldstar there it's gonna be awesome um cool well we'll be back on thursday definitely check out the episode this week sandwich video it is found on youtube.com slash the verge or the verge calm our a player right below the hero uh check out Alexis on Twitter he's at Alexis Ohanian and Kirk if you want to be found on Twitter Kurt Larson Kirk Larson he's a cool dude you know I n not Owen not oh and Kirk Larson thanks for joining and we'll see you guys on Thursday I brought up