Chad Grills === [00:00:00] External Microphone & FaceTime HD Camera: Today I am =joined by Chad Grills, an entrepreneur, veteran, and visionary who's on a mission to =reimagine how capital flows into startups. In our conversation, Chad shares his fascinating journey from small town Maryland to military service in Iraq and Egypt to becoming a writer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. [00:00:19] Now based in Texas, Chad is the founder of National Capital League, a startup developing a game designed to help people make and raise money in alignment with their values. As a father of five, Chad offers thought provoking perspectives on education raising children in today's digital world and the importance of outdoor play. [00:00:41] we discuss the challenges facing young men in society, the shifting economic landscape and how courage might be our most needed and contagious virtue. as usual, I ask the three fundamental questions At the heart of the impossible network, who are you as a human being? What or [00:01:00] who made you the human you are? And what are you working to achieve before you shuffle off this mortal coil? This is a conversation about faith, entrepreneurship and creating a future for capital flows to those embodying virtue. So let's dive in with chat grills. [00:01:17] Mark: Okay, Chad, welcome back to The Impossible Network. It's been some time since we first sat down together and chatted, and obviously we had to delay things for a whole number of reasons, but here we are again, unfortunately not in person. so, um, shall we get going? [00:01:35] Chad: Let's do it. Yeah. Great to see you. [00:01:37] Mark: Okay. Good to see you. we had a really interesting chat last when we sat down at the studio, back Roads, entertainment, about a year and a half ago. And I'm sure a lot's happened since then. [00:01:49] But the basic arc of the conversation for the podcast is three questions. Who are you as a human being? What made you the human you are or who or what made you the human you are? And what are you [00:02:00] working to achieve? And those questions still stand as relevant today, if not more relevant in the world of ai. [00:02:07] As it starts to sort of envelop us, we have to question who we are as human beings and our role in the world. So why did we kick off with that question? Who are you as a human being? [00:02:18] Chad: So first of all, I love the philosophical approach and I love those questions. I think they're really important to explore as a human, I'm made by God and I am a work in progress and I'm continually evolving and have some wonderful parents and they definitely contributed early on. And after their love and support you know, I continued to build myself, build myself in the world, yeah, and just really explore, the entirety of God's creation and explore like what that means to me. But yeah, ultimately I'm a human created by God. So, [00:02:53] Mark: Mm-hmm. So if we dive a bit deeper into [00:03:00] that question of who you are as a human, what would you say then the, the values that you live by and the principles that you embrace? [00:03:10] Chad: I think striving to just be better and whether you look at that as a [00:03:16] Mark: as [00:03:17] Chad: question that you ask yourself at the end of the day where you're just thinking about like, how did I do today? [00:03:24] Mark: Mm-hmm. [00:03:24] Chad: That's one approach I, that I think is really, really helpful. And I think that being as present as possible, I. [00:03:31] In your interactions with other humans is a great way to live by values. And so if the question of if you're living by values, what values are you living by? I still go back, you know, I was in the military and I still go back to the Army values from time to time. The leadership acronym you know, starting with loyalty and making sure that I am loyal to others that's kinda like the first one. [00:03:55] And in terms of the others, there's you know, there's certainly more, but that's the first one I think [00:04:00] is most important. I [00:04:01] Mark: Hmm. How does that manifest itself in your, now that you're outta the army? [00:04:07] Chad: think loyalty is something that, [00:04:12] Mark: that, [00:04:13] Chad: just like anything, you can fall into a trap where you're loyal to a fault. So it's kind of like a spectrum and you wanna find like the right balance of, of it. So I think that by striving to do what I say I'm going to do, to deliver on that and align myself with others that are doing the same and that really have that as a value, is a great way to practice that [00:04:37] Mark: value, you mentioned your parents and their impact on you. [00:04:43] If you reflect on that and think back to growing up I'm not sure, I can't recall where you grew up, but you could talk a [00:04:49] Chad: small town [00:04:50] Called Boonsboro Maryland. [00:04:53] Mark: I, I mean, I can understand that the military can instill that value of loyalty in you, but [00:05:00] in, in small town Maryland, what was it called? [00:05:02] Boone [00:05:03] Chad: Boonsboro, [00:05:05] Mark: Boonsboro. Boonsboro, [00:05:07] Chad: founded by Daniel Boone's cousin. [00:05:09] Mark: mean, pres by Daniel Boone's cousin. Well, okay, there you go. Well, presumably in that town, your education and the other influences around you of teachers the church, your parents how would you say you, you adopted your worldview at that point before you joined the Army? [00:05:29] Chad: Sure. So just really quick, the rest of that acronym. Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service. Honor, honor, integrity, personal courage. That's the rest of it. And [00:05:41] Mark: right, okay. [00:05:42] Chad: so I didn't fully explore that growing up and I wasn't subject to too much military recruiting propaganda growing up. And in that small town it was really just church on Sunday, public School, Monday through Friday. [00:05:55] And a little bit of interactions with our [00:06:00] neighbors you know, friends for play dates, things like that. And in many ways it was a idyllic American country town very small. You had a lot of tourism from the Civil War battlefields that were surrounding the town. And I grew up in an old farmhouse there that dated as far back as I would say, the Revolutionary War. [00:06:25] That was when the first part of it was constructed. And then later in the Civil War, they built an addition. After that, they built an addition, and then my parents went on to build another addition to the house. So this uh, hobbit house of uh, you know, additions, that my parents built into this beautiful farmhouse and 12 acre farm, [00:06:43] Mark: 12 acre farm. And siblings? [00:06:46] Chad: no siblings. I'm an only child. [00:06:48] Mark: only child. Okay. How did you develop your sense of adventure? [00:06:52] Chad: I think that was as there as far back as some really early memories of [00:07:00] jumping off things. Some of, some of my first memories when I was two or three would involve you know, climbing up to the kind of highest place I could and then jumping off and you know, playing some games running around the house. [00:07:14] So I guess it's something that has probably always been there. And it was certainly encouraged by my father who during the summers would lead these trips and expeditions all around the world. So whether it was a research station in the Andros Island, Bahamas, or whether it was shadowing Lewis and Clark's expedition on a portion of the Missouri River. [00:07:39] These experiences definitely shaped me a lot, and as I get older, I'm starting to fully appreciate how much they did. [00:07:46] Mark: mm-hmm. I mean, we'll come and talk about where you are in life now, but it's something that's come up a lot in recent conversations I've had with people about just the impact and [00:08:00] the of the world that we are living in now. And being a parent and having children and giving them the freedom to explore, make mistakes, take risk discover the boundaries of what's possible is very different to when. [00:08:14] You're describing your upbringing. Certainly I remember my upbringing in Scotland being let loose probably too loose and getting into trouble and all the scrapes and the bruises and the, the trouble you get into that set certain boundaries for the way you view the world. What's your your perspective on how we should be looking at nurturing children's sense of adventure and sense of freedom and the values that it should be living by. [00:08:43] Chad: It's another big question, but one that as a parent or any aspiring parents out there, you really want to consider and you really wanna think deeply about [00:08:53] Mark: Of [00:08:54] Chad: the memories that you're creating with your children. And also, as you mentioned, [00:09:00] think about are your children getting these experiences where they get to explore, where they get the right amount of cuts and scrapes through adventure? [00:09:08] So it's something I'm exploring a lot and I think the simplest way to think about it is are you outside a lot? I think more and more folks are staying inside and with the public school system there is a lot of pressure to put your children in an environment where they're under fluorescent lights, they're put in front of a blue screen, and we're going to, I think over the next couple years, the culture's really gonna wake up to just how damaging that is. [00:09:36] In many ways people are now, but I think people are gonna become even more aware. And so I'm a father, I have four sons and one daughter. And my oldest sons, they attend a school, it's a Waldorf school. It's outside a big 33 acre campus. And no matter if it's rain or shine, they are out each day on their nature, walk [00:10:00] on the playground and or in arrhythmic class where they're learning movement. [00:10:05] And I think that that is just incredibly important. [00:10:08] Mark: mm-hmm. Yeah. That's encouraging to hear. But I suppose that there's a, there, there's massive disparity between the, the reality of so many parents and children are living in inner cities, probably essentially trapped within houses, apartments, unable to discover the boundaries of which or the take. Have adventure, I suppose, in the outdoors, and discover what it's like to live outside of screens under natural light to get into trouble and to learn from that. One thing that I I increasingly that as this also coming up in conversations is the concern I think a lot of people have and the opportunity for AI and the impact that's gonna have on us as who we are as human beings and what it means [00:11:00] for us as our, our creativity and our ingenuity and our imagination and what it can do. [00:11:06] But as a parent, it must be something that you're very conscious of, as well as to what their, your children's futures look like. And even with the type of education that you're providing them with, both through the school and through just general life education, how do you. How do you confront what must be at the forefront of your mind? [00:11:28] Knowing that things are moving so fast and the acceleration of change and that there doesn't seem to be any governance, guidance policy from an educational standpoint for whether it be in the US or in any country. I think everyone's struggling and striving to find a, a way and a vision forward [00:11:50] Chad: Policy and politics are not evolving at nearly the pace that algorithms are. And as these AI algorithms become more sophisticated and are [00:12:00] able to do more and more online through AI agents and other things. It creates an entirely new internet. It creates a lot of hazards, a lot of opportunity. I think the first fear at everyone's mind is what's gonna happen with jobs and are a lot of these jobs gonna go away. [00:12:19] There's an international labor study that shows AI is expected to replace about 85 million jobs, but that study also shows that it's projected to create 97 million new jobs and any technology allows you to do more with less. And it creates a situation where you just have to be very careful about what are you adopting, what are you using? [00:12:44] And I think that by investigating the creators and the origins of different technology, you can get a better sense of, do I want to use this? Do I wanna support this? Do I want to make this part of my daily routine? And do I want my kids to be exposed to this? [00:13:00] So. Just kind of a little bit about how I'm approaching that. [00:13:02] Mark: Mm-hmm. We, when we talked before, you've been on, you on a very interesting sort of journey from your time in the Army to your I suppose your, your tech background, your content creation background, and to where you are today. Perhaps you could just give a, a little abridged version of the, the journey you've been on before we talk about what is your focus on today as both a professional and as a parent. [00:13:30] Chad: Sure. So I studied economics in college, specifically a self-directed research project in studying how the United States allocates capital, and I've always been fascinated with business. Some of my earliest aspirations were to. Owned my own business one day and I didn't really want to be in college. And I managed to get a four year economics degree in two and a half years so I could satisfy the culture and my parents get a thumbs up there, but also get out [00:14:00] as quickly as possible. [00:14:01] And I also joined the military and had, was very fortunate there because there's this lack of proving rituals in our society right now for young men and men and adult men and the military, for better or worse, was that proving ritual that I wanted to attempt. And so I did, you know, did that deployed to Iraq a long time ago now, and also deployed to Egypt. [00:14:28] I got to do security for a presidential inauguration, got to be involved in a military recruiting campaign, which was kind of the gateway into media. And throughout this time, I'd always been a writer. I wrote for my school paper and. As I exited the military, like any other veteran, I went through the military's reintegration process and my first thought after going through it was, this could be a lot better. [00:14:56] And so when I got out, I wrote a book the target audience [00:15:00] was veterans and the idea was to kind of reimagine the military's reintegration process. And I started a Kickstarter for it. That got some traction. I got featured on the front page or one of the front pages of the Army Times, which is like the Army's newspaper and a former general and chief information of the officer, excuse me, chief Information Officer of the Army reached out and he backed the project very generously and actually brought me into brief a group of retired generals and colonels about what was going on with the military's reintegration process. [00:15:33] And at that point, I was fascinated by the power of media and what you could potentially accomplish with. Better storytelling, better information, and getting those messages to folks at the right time. And I had done a couple apps where I, you know, designed them, coded them, got them in the app store. The first one I did, I got a cease and desist letter in roughly two and a half months after launching. [00:15:58] Which really just fired me up. [00:16:00] If anything, it just encouraged me to get the next one out there, do a little bit better. And one of my former professors from, [00:16:08] Mark: why, why See Synthesist [00:16:09] Chad: Good question. So this, you know, their argument was oh, your name and logo are too close to ours, and you need to cease and desist. [00:16:20] And at that point with limited capital and a very nacient understanding of the business world, I just said, okay, fine, we'll take it down. I was kind of hoping the company would make me an offer to buy it, which would've been the right much better move. But I didn't know enough to, to pursue that. [00:16:38] And in subsequent apps and projects I launched, I teamed up with a former professor of mine who was in many ways a mentor and a, and he still is a friend to this day. And we launched an app for college students called college Majors, a very original brand. But the idea was to help students pick [00:17:00] better majors based on future economic data. [00:17:02] And that app did fairly well. And around the same time, I just became aware that Washington DC does not have a culture conducive to entrepreneurship. It doesn't have a culture that is really welcoming of new things, but more practically, it doesn't have a capital climate where you're going to be able to get good terms from investors. [00:17:25] The majority of folks are involved in the non-profit world or government world. Hard to come by clients. And I got an invite to go out to Silicon Valley and it was a part of 50 different veterans that were selected and got to get a briefing at Y Combinator. There were some other folks there and really just see like a lay of the land of Silicon Valley. [00:17:49] And yeah, and so I spent the next six years building a company out in Silicon Valley. [00:17:55] Mark: Wow. To, yeah. To have gone from, [00:18:00] yeah. Small town Maryland to the army, to being a ri, a journalist, a writer at school, and a coder. It's quite an unusual sort of combination of skills. [00:18:08] Chad: No coding, just design. So [00:18:10] Mark: Design. [00:18:10] Chad: I, I've always been prolific with with drawing and writing and the idea that, you know, you could draw things and that they become software, they become media that then reaches a lot of people, is just incredible. [00:18:21] Mark: mm-hmm. A lot of people are limited by, well are constrained, let's say, by their self-limiting beliefs. You, you've seem to have broken through a lot of many boundaries and barriers. Where do you think that self-belief and comes from? [00:18:38] Chad: It's a good question and I, in the early stages of this process, and even now I don't think I've had much self-belief. I think it's still something where I'm figuring out what is the right level of self-belief what's the right level of confidence to approach projects with. So it's, it's something that I'm still learning a lot about, but whatever [00:19:00] self-belief that I had initially to launch these projects get going to keep going after a cease and desist letter you know, to keep going after editors of the school newspaper wanted me to stop writing my weekly column, like, it certainly came as probably a result of my parents. Right. You know, I think at the end of, [00:19:19] Mark: of, [00:19:20] Chad: I wrote the column at my school's newspaper for maybe a year and a half or two years. And at the end of that time as a graduation present, my parents had printed out all of my columns and they had them saved there. [00:19:34] And it was just really fun you know, getting that. And throughout that time I certainly got the backlash from the editors at the school paper. And there were, I, I definitely ran into trouble with some professors that did not like me. But I also had people that did like it. And, you know, I would stop by the school's ROTC office. [00:19:54] Right. And the major that was running that would, he had just read my column and he loved it. And it was like, you know, [00:20:00] wanted to slam the desk and be like, yeah, this is great. We need more of this. And I think that just finding. The signal from people who do like what you're doing or who are going to be su supportive is going to be it's vital to anyone that's struggling with this, and I think all creatives do. [00:20:20] Mark: I attended this talk by an ex Google he was like a senior exec at Google X at South by Southwest. A guy called Frederick, GG Fert. And he's got this book called What What's Next Is Now, and it was very much focused. The reason he's got a reflective cover, it's very much about his view is, you know, we can all talk about the future and about predictions, but it's it's not about predicting the future. [00:20:46] It's about creating the future by the actions you take and by the, the focus and the, the desire and the belief you have in yourself. And it seems that you've been on that very much embraced those values. [00:20:58] Chad: I love that. [00:20:59] Mark: A couple of [00:21:00] things, as you said there. Got me thinking. One, you talked about young men in the world today and when you were talking about what you'd gone through and the values, you were, you, you you've got four boys and the values that were instilled in you through the army. [00:21:14] One thing, and I, and I'm just literally watching a series at the moment. It's on Netflix called Adolescence, which is very much about the incel sort of culture, a UK series that's really hard hitting and it's getting a lot of press. Do you think that young men in this country and in the UK and other western nations, a sense of belief and a sense of purpose, do you think it would be wise for us to embrace something like a national service or a Peace Corps type approach to helping these young men navigate the, the transition from. [00:21:46] I, being children, adolescents into mature fit for culture and the future of young men. [00:21:56] Chad: Yes. I don't think it's going to [00:22:00] come from the government though. [00:22:01] Mark: Mm-hmm. [00:22:02] Chad: I don't think, if we look at the history of the most successful proving rituals in terms of like what they've actually led to, I think at this point, governments all over the world have demonstrated an inability to construct cultural solutions, and we should not look to governments for answers to this. [00:22:24] I think I would not be surprised if in the near future there are attempts made by the government to create a national service or conscription or something along those lines. I don't think it's gonna be successful. I think ultimately the answers are going to come at a family level, a city level, and they're going to be created by private companies. [00:22:46] Mark: Mm-hmm. Why do you think that? [00:22:49] Chad: I uh, you know, went through one of the proving rituals that the United States government had created the military, and it's it's a very complicated topic because it was [00:23:00] so helpful in so many ways. But it's also something where it has so many blind spots. And even if you are able to identify some of the challenges and get those to the top of the food chain alert people, it's just a huge bureaucratic system that has little incentive in becoming better. [00:23:23] And there's certainly hope on the horizon with things like doge and auditing and accountability. But the system there can't become better until there is accountability and un until there are audits and. It's it's a really tough topic, but it's one that people need to need to have. [00:23:43] Mark: Have. Mm-hmm. I suppose if you, if you, I can't remember who said it, that history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes. And we are living in tumultuous times. And I won't get into politics, [00:24:00] but from a geopolitical standpoint, we are at a, a high risk situation. And if you, depending on which geopolitical theorists you listen to or read or historian, the risks facing society are quite overwhelming. So perhaps if history rhymes, maybe we are just entering a, a phase in time where we're probably entering another war-like situation. Certainly if you listen to someone like Ray Dalio, he, he's been predicting the confluence of factors that are leading to a likely global conflict of some description, probably on a very different scale that we've seen before because of the impact of technology and cyber and new weaponry. [00:24:46] But it would probably lead to, as you said, probably conscription of some description, which might be the culture shock that's needed to arm, and I use that word [00:25:00] not as a pun a generation to prepare for a very different future. That's not a question, it's just more of an observation that I think we are living in. [00:25:10] Chad: It's a keen observation. It's cer certainly [00:25:12] Mark: I. [00:25:13] Chad: the momentum and direction we're headed. Our economic systems are predicated on, [00:25:19] Mark: on, [00:25:20] Chad: you know, there are a lot of people that benefit through military conflicts and the destruction and the rebuilding contract tracks and everything. And you know, there's a great book called The Fourth Turning, and it's essentially one that says we're living through the fourth turning now, which is a time period of a lot of chaos, a lot of economic uncertainty, geopolitical problems. [00:25:44] And we're approaching the end of that cycle, if you believe the author's theory, which I think is, you know, quite brilliant. But at the end of the fourth, turning it regresses or, you know, evolves, I guess is a better word, into the first turning, which is a [00:26:00] springtime like opportunity where there's greater collaboration, less geopolitical struggles. [00:26:06] And according to their theory, we're kind of like at the end of the fourth turning. And I think it's going to be darkest before the dawn, but I think in many ways we're approaching an era of, you know, a new golden age or a springtime and you know, where we're gonna have this opportunity for nations to work together and collaborate on existential problems instead of just you know, international problems and traditional conflicts. [00:26:33] So. [00:26:33] Mark: Mm-hmm. I can't remember. We talked about it in our first interview that I remember during the beginning of Covid I was watching a, a series of discussions happening. They were out of the, I think it was the Singularity University, and one of the speakers quoted the Italian theorist Antonio Grey said, the old world is dying and the new world is emerging, and in those shadows rise up monsters. [00:26:58] And he said, it's a [00:27:00] time of, you know, great transition. You know, that if you think, and he likened it actually. He said, we're living in a time. And he would talk about the 2020s and the pandemic and all the factors. He said it's almost at the time of the 19 39, 41 period when the world was in a great transition and we'd know of coming out the second world world War, A New World or Order was created. [00:27:22] And maybe we are in another one of you say of these, these great transitions where stresses are being felt in every aspect of society. There was a really good um, debate. a podcast by a British guy Diary of a CEO. And he had on, two people debating, and I can't remember their names, but one is a math genius from the UK who went on to be a very successful multimillion dollar trader. And his view is that we need to reinvent the taxation system to arrest the, the, the growing di disparity wealth disparity that exists both in the west and and all over the [00:28:00] world. [00:28:00] And the other was arguing that what's lacking is ent a culture of entrepreneurship. And when I listened to it, I thought, they're both right. The reality is the solution remains somewhere in the middle. And why are we not looking to create a new manifesto for the way we should be running our countries? [00:28:18] Our. Communities that is much more around citizens coming together to collaborate and support each other than fighting individually. But again, it, it, it's really interesting that we seem to be being pulled apart by these divert divisive arguments that people can't seem to sit anywhere other than on polar extremes at the moment, which I just find bizarre. [00:28:41] Chad: I think it starts with just getting better at improv, right? Where you hear that, you hear two great arguments and you decide to say yes and, and like, yes, both of these things, you know? Yes. And, and then start to, you know, have a generative discussion or just get into a generative building process to, to build that future. [00:28:58] And what you alluded [00:29:00] to with the book, and I think the Italian who said, you know, during these times, like, monsters can emerge, it's certainly true. It's a risk. We see this happening, however. You know, you go to the fourth turning, they had this idea of like, gray champions. And I think it's a powerful example because typically our culture of capitalism and Silicon Valley have just written off older people. [00:29:23] And these are people that have incredible amounts of wisdom. And I think what you're gonna have happen is you're gonna have the rise of gray champions at every local level, every national level of individuals who are intrinsically motivated to, to solve these issues. And I think we, I think we see that now, you know, we're in the very early stages of populist pro-free market candidates ascending to power. [00:29:50] And I think the type of gray champions that follow their lead I think it's just going to be a, a very different time. A lot of risk, but I also see it as being you know, [00:30:00] closer to that springtime of opportunity. [00:30:02] Mark: Mm-hmm. you've gone on through, you've been living through a period of great transition. You're probably not gonna talk about the specifics of it, but you've gone from Silicon Valley to content creation building studios to create content, but you're now a new, almost your new beginning. So perhaps you could talk about what it is you're working to achieve. [00:30:23] Chad: yes. Yeah, I would love to. So the company I'm building now is a, a proudly based in Texas veteran owned corporation, and we're called National Capital League. And the idea is to build a game that helps people make or raise more money in a way that's aligned with their values. And it's a, a product and a game that I want for myself. [00:30:46] And you know, after navigating the idea Maze of Entrepreneurship, raising money. Working with very large enterprise clients, you know, getting to a couple million in revenue, finding a model that works. you know, this is my life's [00:31:00] work and I'm increasingly certain of that and enjoying it. yeah, it's still pretty early, but also it's the, the right right thing for me. [00:31:09] Mark: So explain more about the concept. [00:31:11] Chad: Sure. So the idea is that private markets, so the opposite, essentially, of public markets but yet the foundation of all economic growth, progress, opportunity, it happens in private markets where entrepreneurs get capital, they close clients, they grow businesses, they invent new technologies. Private markets are this opaque world where information is not evenly distributed or allocated amongst entrepreneurs, investors. [00:31:43] Larger limited partners who are investors in funds, or even some of the, like, the largest folks, like Sovereign Wealth Funds, sovereign development initiatives. And, you know, in that process, so much information gets lost and the early stages of entrepreneurship [00:32:00] are becoming increasingly difficult. And as someone who has started a venture backed company in Silicon Valley, I was very fortunate to get an investment from Sequoia and Founders Fund. [00:32:11] You know, Sequoia is known for 99% of their seed stage investments are still operating and making money today. And that was just an incredible learning lesson. But all along the way I kept running into these problems and these challenges with essentially just like proving what I had done. And in terms of like what contracts were actually closed, what revenue was there, there's this challenging trust building process that is really difficult and with accessibility to capital the way that it is right now in private markets there's just this huge opportunity to essentially turn it into a better game. [00:32:55] Mark: So when you say a game, you actually mean a game? [00:32:58] Chad: I mean, like a digital game, [00:33:00] but also that ties into the real world. Yes. [00:33:02] Mark: Are you talking about a game that you would play in a, in a, on a phone, on a tablet, on a console that you would then put in all your, your data in terms of your startup idea, your your metrics [00:33:15] Chad: Hopefully not all your data and, hopefully just helping you become better day by day. You track that process. And I, I think the little model that we have is, is quite exciting for that. So, [00:33:27] Mark: I mean, I can immediately imagine I'm spending a ton of time doing ex exploration with different AI tools and agents. I can imagine building something where you give a persona of some of the sort of hard charging venture capitalists and limited partners like a Bill Gurley to be your agent advisor that's on your shoulder the whole time. [00:33:49] And essentially coaching, guiding, coercing kicking you is it that type of scenario that you would have personas within the game? [00:33:59] Chad: yes, [00:34:00] and I mean, obviously there's going to be any, game or social network that reaches scale in the future is going to have dozens, maybe, maybe hundreds of thousands of different AI agents in it. And however we're getting started very simply. And I think that getting started by making it as easy as just one tap to track your daily progress is is the right approach. [00:34:25] So that's what we're starting with and we're aiming to launch on January 1st, so of 2026. [00:34:31] Mark: Okay. So it's almost, there's a, a slightly meta way of thinking about this, that it's a game about Capital League, national Capital League is a game, but you're doing a startup, so you're actually living the game itself. As you're building the game, presumably [00:34:51] Chad: it is the, I mean, it's the product that I want for sure. I think social networks have largely succeeded based [00:35:00] on showing or advertising different things they encourage the user to, to talk or I did this, I did that, or just signal different things. And that's never really been interesting to me. [00:35:12] I don't really see [00:35:13] Mark: see [00:35:14] Chad: the need for that. But in, you know, building my last company and getting to a place where like the first year, couple a hundred thousand of revenue the next year, a million the year after that too, and then three, and then starting to get on this trajectory of, okay, if I can do that without a technological underpinning, what can I do with a good platform foundation? [00:35:37] That's, yeah, that's been a lot of the thought process and what's interesting as an entrepreneur or anyone who has either raised capital or is in that process or thinking about like just how do I make more money in the world? Ultimately you're gonna get in this situation where you're going to wait, you're gonna present yourself you're going to wait for an offer. [00:35:59] [00:36:00] And the amount of time that people currently spend in that process of selling and raising money, it's over 50% of your time. It's a huge time commitment. And a lot of these investors at early stage funds, or even large funds, they're still spending 50% or more of their time fundraising, selling, maintaining investor relationships. [00:36:23] And so in the current stage of capitalism that we have, 50% or more of the time is being taken up by this selling process. And it is highly inefficient, to say the least. [00:36:36] Mark: inefficient. So how do you solve that [00:36:39] Chad: You'll have to see. [00:36:41] Mark: inefficiency. Okay. [00:36:44] Chad: Yeah. You'll, you'll have to see. you know, I. In the world of investing, if you develop a, a theory or, you know, a new invention, it's ultimately something that you're gonna have to prove and you're gonna have to put it in the market. And the success or failure [00:37:00] of it is gonna be a, a result of how strong your theory was. [00:37:03] And it's it's my theory of of capital. [00:37:07] Mark: Okay. So is your theory, is your game, is your platform a risk to the likes of existing VCs? Like for example, we talk about Austin and Texas as capital factory as one example. Would they be threatened by what you do or would they see it as an opportunity? [00:37:24] Chad: I don't think so. I think the zero sum thinking or looking at the market as competitors is you've already lost if you're, you're doing that I think something where we wanna start very small, but make sure that we're consistently delivering results and creating more opportunity. [00:37:44] And I think too, if you're seriously working at solving a problem that you've had that you know other people, other investors funds are struggling with too I think that's the right way to approach products and company building. [00:37:58] Mark: and company building. Mm-hmm. [00:38:00] So all great visionaries people that are disrupting the market, which sounds like you're doing, have an underlying sort of vision, mission and reason for what they're doing. [00:38:13] What would you like to see result or a marriage as a result of what you're building? If we look forward, let's say 10 years in this rapidly changing uncertain world that we're living in. [00:38:30] Chad: I would like capital to flow to virtue, [00:38:33] Mark: Mm-hmm. [00:38:34] Chad: I would like people who embody virtue and who are working at becoming better have access to adequate capital. And a major issue right now with, if you look at per capita income, it's. Been, we're, you know, pretty stagnant. You could even argue that it's uh, it's decreasing if you compare that to inflation. [00:38:56] And this is a major problem and it's I think our [00:39:00] geopolitical landscape and the, the larger players in the world have gotten this place where they just worship GDP and GDP growth. And I think we need to get back to thinking about how do we increase per capita income in a way that helps everyone become better. [00:39:15] And I, I think that getting a situation where a lot of people are thinking about virtue more and are, you know, trying to become better is great, but if you're not able to reward that, and if you're not able to incentivize that, it won't be successful. And I think that in our current market of capitalism or whatever you believe that we're in this is a huge inefficiency and it doesn't often happen. [00:39:42] Mark: doesn't often happen. What's the difference between virtue and merit? [00:39:45] Chad: That's a very good question. I think, you know, you need virtues. You also need merit. You need skill. It's really not an either or situation. And obviously the uh, merit situation is interesting because we have this growing skills gap [00:40:00] where it's not clear that schools, universities, even boot camps anymore, are adequately preparing their students to have enough skills where they can get a job offer or where they can make more money on their own. [00:40:15] So it's it's a huge, huge challenge. [00:40:19] Mark: it's a, it is a really interesting combination of words, capital flow to virtue. I can understand that we want to create a marketplace where good ideas are rewarded and funded and good ideas should be free. There should be a free flow of ideas regardless of economic background and education. [00:40:42] We all know that there's an inequity in this sort of the capital markets in this sort of the venture fund field there that tend to flow towards, tend to be, college educated white males rather than, and as we know, one sort of group might be Hispanics or even black women. I know quite a lot from people in [00:41:00] that, in that space that are helping, trying to fund black women startups. [00:41:04] you know, we, you could use that slightly misused phrase, equity equitable. There's an, an equitable distribution of capital, but I don't, I'm trying to understand what you mean by what is virtue. How would you judge virtue in an idea marketplace? [00:41:23] Chad: Right. Well, I think individuals are a [00:41:27] Mark: let me ask you a d different way. [00:41:28] What would be the metrics to measure it? [00:41:31] Chad: Oh so that'll be in our algorithm. [00:41:34] Mark: Wait till January 20, 25. 2026. [00:41:39] Chad: 2026. Hopefully January 1st is what we're aiming for. But yeah, this is also something that if I study the greats and people that have inspired me I am in no rush whatsoever. It's uh, a, a process where I am excited about the company and I'm, I'm having fun doing some of the necessary preparation to make [00:42:00] sure it's successful. [00:42:01] And um, I think that rushing the early stage formation of companies, it kills a lot of great ideas and ambitions. I think that raising VC early is uh, generally a terrible. Idea. And I think that in the marketplace as a whole, meanwhile it's just like the right time. So, [00:42:19] Mark: So you're, you're, you're bootstrapping. [00:42:23] Chad: Yes, I'm gonna bootstrap for as long as possible grow with revenue and you know, the early stages of we just gotta contract the other day. That would be our first revenue, which is exciting. And that was I think one of the important lessons I learned at my last company, which is um, finding great companies and solving a problem for them, [00:42:42] Mark: a problem. So when do you launch it? Will you launch with the support of any private equity firms or VCs promoting your game to [00:42:57] Chad: I think. So we have some great angel [00:43:00] investors now, and I think that as we get to revenue, hit some other milestones that will, if we need to raise a pre-seed round or seed round that's certainly on the table. And have been really, really blessed to [00:43:13] Mark: to [00:43:14] Chad: have some angels into this business that are um, people I've learned a lot from and that I respect. [00:43:19] And I think that's another really important component of business is are you motivated to help your patrons or your investors make more money? Are they good people? And are you okay with making them more money? And in this case, I certainly am. [00:43:36] Mark: So when people use the game let's say we have a sample size of a hundred entrepreneurs starting to use it, the algorithm will determine whether their ideas are virtuous enough to result in capital flow to them. Is that basically the premise? [00:43:56] Chad: so we're gonna have an application process and it will probably [00:44:00] be very selective about who we end up admitting, and I think that's a very, very important part of it. But the idea with the algorithm is to curate different media and opportunities for that individual and to help personalize information and opportunities that can help them. [00:44:20] Mark: Ah, so an, an updated version of Y Combinator. [00:44:26] Chad: Really respect what Y Combinator has uh, built. yeah, when I first went to Silicon Valley, I had that little briefing at Y Combinator and they invited me to apply and got to talk to partner. And I think if we want things to get better in the world, it would be important for there to be some other options. [00:44:44] Other than Y Combinator [00:44:46] Mark: So, where we stand in the world today are you feeling, I'm, I'm assuming you're optimistic about the future? [00:44:54] Chad: optimistic cautious. There's the book, you know, only the paranoid survive. I think that you [00:45:00] need a mixture of all of that to navigate successfully. But generally I, I think it's a time of great opportunity and I think there's a window open for. Really anyone who wants to use media AI tools to extend their capabilities uh, I think there's this window open for individuals to, to capitalize on that. [00:45:22] I think it's a, it's a great time to be alive and um, to create the future. So, [00:45:27] Mark: Aside from your providing your children with an expansive outdoor education and through the schools that they're going to, how are you guiding them and how are you passing on your creative and design experience and knowledge to them to arm them to be more creative in the world that we're moving into? [00:45:47] Chad: I play, I, I think is really, so I'm a fan of Jean Piaget and I think his ideas around play creating games and. When you are around your [00:46:00] children, being as present as you can. I've had to work hard to make sure that I'm not answering messages on the phone or that I even have my phone around my sons and daughter. [00:46:09] And I'm still struggling with that, but I think I'm getting better and being as present as possible with them is important. You know, I've been building outback. We have a small playhouse and my sons have been in the process of kind of constructing a, uh, a little addition to the back. It's not functional or anything like that, but we play in the back and they have little tool sets and things, and I do my best to create with them, whether it's like art projects or anything like that. [00:46:40] I don't know how effective this is. I, I'd like to think it is. But a lot of children get into the mindset of saying, I can't. Or when you're young and your faculties are limited, you naturally find yourself saying, well, I can't do that. And, you know, we just have a, a rule in our house that you don't say, I can't, you say, how can I? [00:46:58] It's so when you catch [00:47:00] yourself saying, I can't, it's just an immediate, like, how can I, and just think about it and then start to move forward with that. Well, what if I could, how could I? it's, I mean, it's still a struggle and challenge, but I think it's helping some, [00:47:12] Mark: Where did you discover that? [00:47:14] Chad: I don't remember exactly but it's just something that felt right. And I think as I catch myself starting to think that or uh, you know, say that in regards to certain things, it's been useful for me and I, I see how it's been useful for, for them. [00:47:32] Mark: Mm-hmm. Mm. How old are they? [00:47:33] Chad: Our oldest is six. So my oldest son is six. I have twin boys that are five. My youngest son just turned two, and then my daughter is, she just turned one. [00:47:42] Mark: Wow. You got your hands full. [00:47:43] Chad: Yes, yes. My wife is a stay at home overtime mom, in addition to being a wonderful person, and it's uh, really special having that extra support support from, from her. [00:47:56] Mark: Okay. Who or what inspires you [00:48:00] [00:48:00] Chad: Lately it's been James Dyson. I am really inspired by James Dyson's story and I think it's however many prototypes it was 5,000, 127, whatever. The [00:48:10] incredible, incredible persistence and so have, I've been especially inspired by Dyson recently. And, outside of James Dyson, I try to read widely and I think stories of great leaders from the past are really exciting. [00:48:28] One of my friends is, is Alex Petkus, who does this podcast called Cost of Glory and you know, analyzing some of the great leaders from the past. And it's nobody's perfect, but I'm certainly inspired by a lot of that. [00:48:41] Mark: Yeah. I listened to founders. I can't remember the guy that runs it, David, someone, but it's a group wonderful. Where he reads all the autobiographies and he then digests them in the lessons from there. And Dyson is one of the gr the gr his favorites. And I think, you know, Dyson certainly embodies that. [00:48:59] How can [00:49:00] I philosophy, I mean, to have persisted through so much failure. It is, it is an incredible story that more people should be educated about. He's, he's is quite a character. [00:49:12] Chad: totally agree. another one that's come up recently, one of my favorite books is the Man Who Solved the Market about Jim Simmons, the founder of Renaissance Technologies which is one of the best performing hedge funds of all time, kind of the original quant. And that was a really inspiring book and I just revisited it recently. [00:49:31] And I I, yeah, I think about his story a lot and. [00:49:37] Mark: I asked you about your values as principles early on, and you, you reflected on the Army values. Um, let me ask it a different way. If you were to see if you were, if we look at your children and as they grow up, what would be the core principles you would want them to embrace besides the ones that you live [00:50:00] by? [00:50:00] Chad: Courage. I, you know, I do certainly try to live by that, but I think for anyone it's a it's a struggle. I think courage, persistence, grit, determination you know, being a person who is committed to solving problems for yourself and for others. I think all those things are important and, I think courage is the one that's most lacking and, and hard to actually embody and get done in our world. [00:50:28] But I also think courage is the most contagious one. Out of all those, [00:50:33] Mark: Okay. You've mentioned a couple of books, I'll add those to the show notes. What would you like your legacy to be [00:50:39] Chad: I'm still figuring that out. I'm still figuring that out. I would just most like to my sons and my daughter and any future grandchildren, you know, being able to be in their life and, you know, have a family where they enjoy spending time with me and we, that would [00:51:00] be, I think the greatest thing is to have you know, a growing family where no family's perfect, but where, you know, we like spending time with each other and where we can accomplish things together. [00:51:12] That would be incredible. And I would also, that obviously like includes my wife and I. I think that being able to grow old with someone you love and maintain that love and, and grow, that I think would be uh, an incredible legacy. [00:51:29] Mark: Are there any interesting documentaries or shows you think people should watch? I, you, you got obviously a rich content development background, so you, you must have a, some good insights there. [00:51:41] Chad: I haven't watched too many recently. I've [00:51:44] Mark: I mean, too [00:51:44] Chad: kind of taken a, taken a break. I've been doing a lot of writing and I haven't done a book in a while and one of the book books that I'm working on, I just got an offer from a publisher I like and so deciding if I want to. Work with [00:52:00] them or self-publish, that's kind of, taken up the majority of any free time at the moment. [00:52:04] So I haven't been thinking about any documentaries. A a great one. I mean, it's, I so, uh, my Octopus teacher is, is still one of my favorite documentaries and [00:52:14] Mark: well, if you like that, the one you have to watch is my Penguin friend. [00:52:20] Okay. [00:52:21] Or my friend, the Penguin. It's brilliant. [00:52:24] Chad: cool. I'll [00:52:25] check it out. [00:52:26] Mark: true story, [00:52:27] Chad: It sounds like my friends would love, or sorry, it sounds like my sons would love that one as well, [00:52:31] Mark: it's a movie, but it's based on a true story [00:52:34] Chad: very [00:52:34] Mark: it is just it is extraordinary. It's really uplifting. [00:52:38] Chad: Yeah, I'm a huge fan of any uh, based on true stories. I think that is an important genre that Hollywood is neglected. So. [00:52:46] Mark: well, something I, I wasn't planning this just something that came to me just now 'cause I was discussing it with my sister. So I, one of the films I went to see at South by Southwest was this first showing, second showing of a documentary about [00:53:00] UAPs. All, all the people that are featured in that role. [00:53:04] Military government officials, even Marco Rubia was in it, discussing it extraordinary. Something disclosure, I'll put it in the show notes, the ramifications if whatever these phenomena are existing, whether they've been here all along, whether they've come from another quantum parallel universe and can move through with, we know that space and time isn't exactly relative now anyway. [00:53:32] But the reason I mention it is 'cause I've been discussing with my sister 'cause we have quite interesting discussions around our faith and, what is, you know, around different religions and belief systems. What would be the impact for you if it emerged that there are other non-human. Beings in existence. [00:53:57] Chad: I think Christianity and the Bible [00:54:00] are only going to ring more true at that point. [00:54:03] Mark: Okay. I suppose, I mean this, and this is, so, this is what I said to my sister is when I watch it, I think, well, it does make you question if there is some form of higher intelligence, maybe that is what God is. And we, it's just our, our teachings have been passed down to us through the scriptures, to, to encourage people to live by good values through faith, through a way of thinking, a way of acting, and a way of sharing, perhaps this is just the next iteration of humanity is an awakening to what God is [00:54:41] Chad: it's certainly possible and, you know, we're living through a time period of disclosure. I think that trend is going to accelerate and I think yeah, a lot, a lot of veils are gonna be lifted, [00:54:52] Mark: lifted. [00:54:52] Chad: for sure. [00:54:53] Mark: Yeah. Well, on that leads to the final question. Who do I interview next? [00:54:57] Chad: Okay, so this is a fun question for [00:55:00] me because you're back in California now and you need to interview Silicon Valley's historian next. [00:55:07] Mark: Oh, really? Who's [00:55:08] Chad: he doesn't, he doesn't go by this, and he might be offended that I'm refusing to refer to him as this, but this is a a journalist and author, a man that knows probably more about the real history of Silicon Valley than anyone I've ever met. [00:55:24] So his name is Adam Fisher and I'll make the introduction right after this, but you should definitely interview Adam. He's a, a, a special guy and uh, has been, you know, really. When I was in Silicon Valley, he was incredibly helpful and he also just became a great friend. [00:55:42] Mark: well wait till I've edited it and you've sent me the files and I've put it out there. 'cause it's always nice to be able to share it and say, Hey listen, I've just done this interview, so if you could hold on [00:55:53] Chad: That would be awesome. Sure. [00:55:54] Mark: that'd be great. [00:55:55] Chad: Oh yeah, no rush then. [00:55:56] Mark: yeah, no rush. [00:55:58] Well, Chad, thank you very much and [00:56:00] um, yeah, God's speed and uh, all the best for, for the National Capital League game and uh, I'm looking [00:56:08] Chad: I appreciate it. Yes. Yeah, it's a pleasure to see you and congrats on the Impossible Network. It's fun to watch that grow and so it's an honor to be a guest. [00:56:17] Mark: Yeah. Well, yeah, I'm looking forward to this one going out and um, yeah, and thank you again for being so accommodating with my being a bit remiss and sort of dropping a few times and sort of juggling things around. But [00:56:30] Chad: Hey, you put up with me the first time, so [00:56:32] Mark: Okay, then Chad. All right, thanks very much. [00:56:35] Okay. Cheers. Cheers. [00:56:37] Okay, that's all for now, folks. Now here's my ask of you. Please follow this podcast on Apple or Spotify or whatever player you use. Also, please subscribe to our new random Collisions newsletter. We really are working to build a global community of action takers, action engines of people that really care about the problems that need solving. [00:56:56] Thank you very much. We'll see you next [00:57:00] time.