Pitch Please

00:02.46
mike_flywheel
What's up everybody. It's Mike from pitch please podcast back again today I've got Connor Rose from early I think that's how you say it? but Connor I'm going to toss it to you tell us a little bit about what you do it early if I said it right? How you spell it. It's it's in your ball court man.

00:18.43
Connor
Yeah man, it's early I o I um yeah I'm Connor I'm really pleased to be here. Super excited to talk a little bit more about what we do I'm I'm the co-friender and Ceo um should I jump right into it. Do you want me to kind of.

00:32.46
mike_flywheel
You let tell me what I RL what man I'm go to mess that up I RLY what does it stand for it. Scott stand for something right.

00:41.54
Connor
It actually does I mean some people think I mean there's all kinds of ways you can go with it. But what we meant for it to stand for was I Really like you people say I Really loathe you people say I Really love You. There's a, but it's meant to say I Really like you right? We didn't want to go to? um. In that like we didn't want to go too crazy with it. But yeah.

00:58.99
mike_flywheel
That is like something like in real life or I don't know. But now we know I Really like you all right? We're gonna have some fun what does Actually we're not even to go there. Yeah and we're gonna leave people on the hook to figure out what I Really like you is actually about.

01:04.39
Connor
Um, people think not yeah yeah.

01:15.20
Connor
Yeah, yeah.

01:16.78
mike_flywheel
Want to learn a little bit about you first you know I was checking out your Linkedin page. Um, we're talking a little bit before the show. You've got a pretty interesting like set of different things. You've done tell us a little bit about that and you know a bit of your journey to where you are today at early.

01:35.72
Connor
Yeah, so I mean I've definitely had an an ah or unorthodox journey to you know entrepreneurship for sure my first real you know the first time I ever dipped my toes into entrepreneurship so to speak I was like literally eight years old I was at an art camp. Um, and you know I was I was painting and after school after camp I went to the street and I actually sold the painting right? So you know I'm sure when you were a kid you didn't really like most kids don't really have much money because they can't get a job so I was trying to figure out you know how to get an xbox I sold that painting forty bucks and you know. Push me towards an xbox basically um and then from there I well yeah I didn't have any more paintings. It was my last day but no yeah I you know I I figured out different ways to make money and that kind of you know, brought me to multiple different things throughout my short.

02:12.27
mike_flywheel
Did you keep selling more paintings after that until you got the Xbox.

02:31.16
Connor
Career so far. Um, you know I did an app when I was in high school which was was pretty interesting. We had actually an acquisition offer for that. Um I also had a small jewelry company as well. Which which did pretty well. But now I meant I Really I'm I'm really happy. We're doing something that's that's super super interesting.

02:46.68
mike_flywheel
Tell me about that high school like I mean sounds clearly like you are an entrepreneur at heart like right from the get go at 8 years old you're selling paintings to to pay for an Xbox you had an app that you built. In high school that had an acquisition offer. Let's start there like that's pretty big. Um, what was the app called what did it do and what even like what? Even why did you even start like building an app in high school I mean most but people were like hey let's go like toss a football around you're building apps is crazy. Yeah.

03:22.50
Connor
Yeah I mean we had a school project. It was a business class. Um, you know to create your own business and I went ahead and actually did it because I had this, you know, interesting idea which at the time sounded like revolutionary I thought I was building you know. Fortnite before fortite existed but it was it was pretty simple. It was just you know and um, it was called. Where's an emoji. It was a game centered around finding an emoji that popped up on the screen faster than your competitor. Um, so you know there was all kinds of different functionalities where you could play 1 b one you could there was time things and I mean I built it. Ah. With a friend of mine who you know he actually made it and ended up making it to the forbes list not related to this but um, yeah, it. It was really really interesting I had that was my first kind of time doing anything remotely serious. So yeah, it was cool.

04:11.28
mike_flywheel
That's super cool and then you said from there you started a jewelry company. Um you were mentioning that.

04:18.32
Connor
Yeah, so I started a jewelry company called cage jewelry with my sister we made custom jewelry at affordable prices and I mean our kind of unique take is we went heavily. Um towards influencers right? So we built up a network of over forty million followers um through it was a pretty massive influencer network with with some really cool people that you probably may have heard of um and yeah I mean it was. It was great and then kind of covid hit and we we got a lot of our parts from ah from overseas and that was causing you know, supply chain issues and things like that. But. Was really enriching actually really learned learned a lot there.

04:55.69
mike_flywheel
Fair enough who who are some of like the coolest notable names that people would have heard of that were wearing your jewelry.

05:03.25
Connor
So I mean we had a lot of like Tiktok stars if you look on my Linkedin um, you know 1 of 1 of our like tiktokckers went to Paris Fashion Week and she was like pictured with Jay Balvin which was pretty cool. Um, we had ah a few people I can't really think off the top of my head we did a campaign where we sent a bunch.

05:19.47
mike_flywheel
It's all good.

05:21.24
Connor
To like you know all the big big tiktokkers. But yeah.

05:24.84
mike_flywheel
That's cool and is that why you have like this like celeb status name like Connor Rose or you were just born with that.

05:30.30
Connor
I mean thankfully I was born with it. Yeah.

05:33.95
mike_flywheel
All right? You could have been like Rose jewelry or something but you guys went' cage why why cage.

05:41.14
Connor
Um, honestly we were We were stuck on a name and we looked up different last names and and that kind of came up and we were like okay that's kind of cool.

05:49.76
mike_flywheel
All right? don't overthink it. That's ah if you're making a business name sometimes not overthinking its key How how is working with your sister give us the honesty.

05:57.70
Connor
Um, it was it was interesting for sure. My sister's super hardworking. She actually she's studying law right now she just got into a London school of economics. Um, and you know it it was it was a pleasure she it was. It was primarily women's jewelry. So I really needed her kind of eye for things. Um, but yeah, it was really really good. Um, definitely don't recommend it for everybody if you're not close with your family but you know we're pretty close so it was so it's fun.

06:25.38
mike_flywheel
It's cool I feel like I've just like had a recent run of like so many startups. Um that are like family working together. There's ah, a company called mavis 2 sisters that I just chatted with this morning. They're doing some really cool stuff gonna be bringing them on the show I think in like a week or two Jake Carls and Leslie Carls like from midday squares. There's like a whole bunch of things and like t yeah I think everyone talks about like there's ah amazing perks to it and definitely challenges. But you have to have that tight relationship but there's probably nobody you trust more in your life. So. Super cool that you had that experience and now you're at early. So um I think this is an obvious question but like have you always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

07:11.18
Connor
Um, I mean yeah yeah I think it's yeah I mean I mean yeah, pretty much.

07:16.20
mike_flywheel
Is there like an entrepreneur that like inspires you someone that sort of like was other than hey I need to sell a painting to make an Xbox was there's like somebody that like kind of lit this fire for you to be like this is what I want to do I want to work for myself. I want to go create like my own roadmap.

07:35.00
Connor
I mean I think yeah I mean there's there's a few people in my life who kind of indirectly inspired me my dad is is kind of a self-made entrepreneur himself. He has his own law firm where where he kind of manages a bunch of lawyers and he has he previously had a real estate company and. You know he was kind of the main entrepreneurial figure in my life and then there's other people who you know who I've been connected with over the years who have also kind of you know, inspired me to take that journey for sure.

08:04.98
mike_flywheel
That's awesome I Think sometimes whether you realize in the moment or not those those things influence you you see? Um, those people putting in the hard work and the grit and it gives you the you know the concept that maybe that could be you too. So Super cool. Um, I'd love to talk about early a little bit. Um maybe before we before we dive into that. Let's start you off with a pitch The show's called pitch Please Connor your best pitch? Please What is early.

08:35.94
Connor
Okay, so early's a video first dating app that revolutionizes online dating by combining immersive video experiences and interactive games to help foster genuine connections and more meaningful relationships.

08:50.41
mike_flywheel
Got it. You're gonna have. We're gonna really have to talk about this one because I'm old and I have not had the opportunity to use any dating apps. Just. Timing wise like pro or con like that was just a thing so like this world is super foreign to me. Um, so maybe let's just start with like how did this get started or why did this get started I feel like dating apps like there has to be tons of these out there. So I want to know how yours specifically got started.

09:22.41
Connor
Yeah I mean you're you're kind of in luck I mean my honestly the the dating app landscape out. There is not um, it's it's slim pickins for good for good options. Let's just say that. So um, you know it started out of frustration. Both my co-founder and I um. We had been avidating app users. Um, as have many of our friends and and even Cameron. Um, we we all kind of you know, hated them collectively right? Um, but you know. Right now. There's really nothing out there. That's that's doing what we're doing and and at the time it just seemed like a pipe dream like how could we really build this. Um so we brought this idea to Ubc where where I went to school. Um and we. Went into their incubator program. We chatted with hundreds and hundreds of college students saying you know trying to figure out where their frustrations lied and if this was just I sir if this was an everybody thing. Um and you know it was pretty universal. You know we interviewed hundreds of people 90% of people said they they honestly hated dating apps. Um, so. You know we built this idea out. We built a team and and now we're here basically.

10:34.54
mike_flywheel
So like walk me through I don't know top 2 top 3 dating apps that people I guess use these days and like what are what were some of it sounds like you had some pain points yourself. So maybe you can talk to things other people were saying or at least your own experience but were some of the things that were like. Headaches or problems or why you didn't like them and like what are the top 2 or 3 things out there.

10:57.76
Connor
Yeah, so right now. Um the dating app market is dominated by 2 major players. Ah bumble they own 2 other apps. 1 of them is called badu um, and 1 of them is called fruits which is more younger demographic. Ah you know. They're they're a huge public company and then match group is by far the largest. Ah, you know they own tinder they own hinge they own okcupi they own plenty of fish they own every app under the sign I think they've got like 50 to 60 in their portfolio right now. Um, and they're they're kind of the big player right now. Um. But yeah, both Laura and I were kind of frustrated with the current options because oftentimes there's ah, there's 2 kind of things that that you see on all ah pretty much every dating app out there 1 there's a massive massive amount of superficiality right? So you're swiping left and right just based on a picture. Um you don't really get to know the person. Um. You really are swiping on a profile and then the other thing is just in general There's a misrepresentation or or there's at least a strong ability to misrepresent yourself and um, you know people that we would talk to on these apps you would meet them in person. They'd be very very different from. You know how they represented themselves online and ah you know we came in and we said how can we change this and we really went with this video first approach that allows people to connect in a more organic and low pressure way. Um and kind of just do an initial vibe check before you meet in person. Basically.

12:26.34
mike_flywheel
So that's cool I Want to talk more about that. But you've mentioned a couple people so you're one of the co-founders How how big is the team at early right now like how many co-founders. How big is the team total.

12:38.87
Connor
So we've got 3 co-founders myself Laura and we've got international superstar Cameron Dallas um, he's he's he joined a little bit later on in our journey but he's been an integral part of of pushing this forward the past six months or so we've got ah. 5 people on our engineering team and we've got some people who are helping out with marketing as well.

13:01.60
mike_flywheel
That's cool for anyone that doesn't know tell us who Cameron Dallas is in case of's someone listening that's like yeah yeah internationals I don't know who that is but maybe maybe everyone knows who that is but who who's cameron Dallas why should people know who that is.

13:12.21
Connor
no no I'm totally I'm totally hyping him up but you know he's ah he's an awesome guy. He um, he's basically you know an Instagram legend so to speak. He's one of the first influencers out there right? so. Um, he's got over seventy million followers across social platforms and he really pioneered. Um, what people call today as an influencer right? He has you know a Netflix show. He's you know he's a really great guy and he's also not only that he's a very smart business mind so he previously actually exited. Um, for 8 figures from his from his last company and joined us. He saw a lot of potential here. Um, so we're just very very excited to have him. Overall.

13:54.95
mike_flywheel
That's amazing. The other thing that you talked about that had no idea I didn't like I've heard of bumble obviously I've heard of match.com I didn't realize all of those other apps and companies that I've heard of before ladder up into basically one of those 2 that's nuts. That's.

14:10.30
Connor
Yeah, it's it's pretty crazy. Um, and the the crazier part is like plenty of fish. For example, was a huge player. Um, and they got bought for you know I think close to $800000000 by match. Um, and and every you know it seems like everybody's just get. Gets bought up by match so they've got they've just built their portfolio and it's massive now.

14:30.98
mike_flywheel
And so the problem that you guys are solving is effectively trying to create things that remove some of those superficiality barriers to meeting people like tell me a little bit about the the specific problem and a little bit about what. Is unique to early that starts to overcome that life.

14:52.16
Connor
Yeah, so I mean there are a few problems that we kind of talk about and when we pitch this and when we market this I mean the main thing is the superficiality aspect right? So there are huge on on 99% of dating apps. There's an emphasis on. You know text and and and and things like that. But there's not a lot of emphasis on modes of communication that actually capture your personality so to speak right? So you know when I say that I mean audio and video are the 2 primary ways where you can actually get to know someone because you know texting someone. It's very easy to misconstrue what people are saying um, would you agree? What do you think? and I mean in general like.

15:36.53
mike_flywheel
I Think so I mean I haven't used a dating app but I could imagine yeah like I'm a horrible texter like I am if you know me and and you don't but you're learning about me pretty much right now like I'm high energy. Um, if we texted you would be like this guy is like.

15:47.14
Connor
Yeah.

15:51.85
mike_flywheel
Dry. He hates me like there's no energy like as few words as possible I just rip quick Texts I'm very direct but not because I hate people like I'm always talking and I'm always able to converse but like I'm very short in text which is like super polar opposite to if you meet me in person so I could see how that could be a problem. I mean I don't know maybe in a dating app I'd be different but I imagine I would be not as animated as I am right now.

16:15.70
Connor
Right? And I mean even if you are animated on tax. It's hard to like it's just hard to grasp. Someone's personality over text and I mean like I'm feeling like just even talking to you right now and and messaging you a few times back and forth like completely different vibe and it's it's It's really great talking to you obviously I'm not saying it's a bad thing but I'm saying you know you know what I mean so I mean that's 1 thing that um.

16:33.30
mike_flywheel
Yeah, you thought I was super dry and serious from what I messaged you to how we're talking now and you're like this guy's actually fun. This is actually pretty cool I would almost decline to this podcast.

16:48.24
Connor
I I wouldn't go that far. But I mean you you get the idea right? I mean and that's something that's super important on dating apps when I mean look when it's something you know I'm not and this is obviously podcasts what I'm saying when it's something business oriented or more casual. Um, it doesn't matter as much but when you're putting yourself out there people are dating not just your looks they're dating your personality and um, it's hard to do that through text so we wanted to push for for basically video um video first and the other reason for that is the misrepresentation on these apps right? so. There are a lot of discrepancies at least in what I've seen and what what people have told me um, there are many many discrepancies between so much profiles and and reality which ends up leading to a lot of disappointment and and wasted time and a.

17:38.29
mike_flywheel
It's called. It's called catfishing. No yeah I know my terms.

17:42.13
Connor
Exactly it's catfishing and and it is very very prevalent like you know people think it's just like you know, not that common but it's very very common. Um.

17:52.00
mike_flywheel
And so the idea is like it's way harder to edit the shit out of a video than it is a picture that's like a piece of it I'm assuming. Yeah.

18:00.52
Connor
Exactly Yes, So I mean it's very hard to lie about the way that you look on video um and then I mean the other aspect that we also talk about it kind of has to do with in general building. Trust like when you're having a ah relationship with someone. It's hard to just only do text. So if you want to meet someone in person you want to see what they look like you want to see how they sound you want to see you know as much as you can before you know going out there and and risking your safety I mean we're We're very,. We're very pro-safety here, but.

18:32.89
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah.

18:33.80
Connor
I'm saying you want to build as much trust as possible and the best way to do that is actually seeing who you're talking to face to face.

18:39.93
mike_flywheel
Now. Um I have to imagine there's different like tiers of the market. You said like fruits or something was for younger people. Ah planet fish maybe was folder like what aspect of the market. Generally are you targeting with early like what's the kind of the demographics is it female first like I know like that was like something that I think that bumble did but like who are who's your primary audience. Yeah.

19:07.82
Connor
Yeah I mean we're definitely pushing towards a younger demographic as Well. Like we're we're going towards I'd say 18 to 26? Um, we found that like girls and and you know women really like this concept which makes them feel safe and and Comfortable. Um. But in general, anybody who's single and and wants to mingle and they can come on and and test it out for sure.

19:31.75
mike_flywheel
That's cool So video is an aspect but there's definitely I was I was kind of poking around. There's a whole bunch of other things that are made to I Guess Spark some of this discovery of other aspects of an individual like it's almost a game of fight I don't know if I'm like blowing your secret here. But.

19:35.30
Connor
Yeah.

19:49.66
mike_flywheel
Can you like tell me a little bit about some of those other aspects to help discover each other's personality a little bit that you guys are working on building in or have built into early.

19:53.48
Connor
Um, yeah.

20:00.28
Connor
Yeah, so 1 big thing that we're doing is is games right? So it's really stale these days to just send a hay message right? Nobody wants to just say hey what's up. Um, and in order to kind of build out shared experience in and an or an organic way. We've. Built some really really cool games that you can play um to help kind of have a more fun and engaging get to know you time so to speak it helps you break the ice um in a much more organic way.

20:27.60
mike_flywheel
Okay, so like you? what are some of these examples like I can't see myself like rip in code names or what did you mean?? or maybe they are What did you mean?? but I feel like code names would be a little bit hard like hey there's a word for you that I'm thinking about and it rhymes with like I don't know I don't know how to play these games So like. Yeah, walk me through what's what's available.

20:47.90
Connor
Well, okay, it's funny that you say what do you mean because that's something we were definitely interested in doing something like that. Um, but yeah I mean there's pictionary. There's trivia. So I mean for those of you for people who are a little bit more competitive Trivia is my favorite to be honest, like.

21:00.86
mike_flywheel
Okay.

21:03.90
Connor
We were testing internally the other day and we like just had a full trivia contest with the whole team because it was just really engaging. Um, but yeah I mean truth or dare. But Pg version obviously um, I'm trying to think we've got we've got quite a few. Ah ah you know options to play. But. The game is not necessarily like more so like who's who wins it's more to kind of like you know, just help you guys vibe a little bit better so to speak.

21:28.20
mike_flywheel
Yeah, like something to do That's not just like something to create conversation moments I Guess cool. Um, where where are you guys at with this like is it launched are people using it and where.

21:33.88
Connor
Exactly yeah.

21:44.14
mike_flywheel
What what stage.

21:44.29
Connor
So We're in what we call like a closed Beta Stage. We have people using it. We've got a small task group and you know Shameless Plug. You can go download it on the app store right now and we might let you In. We're only allowing select users at the moment so we can you know. Basically create the best possible Experience. We Want people to test this we want to gather feedback and build something that people really Love. Basically.

22:10.89
mike_flywheel
And um, just in Canada specific region in Canada because I imagine there's like some proximity thing to this no worries. We're good. We'll get there.

22:16.92
Connor
Um, yes, okay should've mentioned that um right right now. Ah you know the 2 markets that we're targeting are toronto and Vancouver but.

22:28.37
mike_flywheel
Um, okay.

22:30.66
Connor
We're primarily focused on Toronto ah, the bulk of our users are in Toronto right now.

22:34.20
mike_flywheel
Okay, it's good to know just because like I don't know why but we've got listeners from everywhere like someone's in the U K or Netherlands or Ireland or czech republic or Kenya or Jordan. Or like Bulgaria like any of these spots that are like tuning in they probably don't want to download the app just yet. But if you are in Canada which oh oh should they should? yeah.

22:55.46
Connor
Well yeah, yeah I was going to say I mean shout out to all the kenyans and Bulgarians listening Um, first of all, um, we'll be there soon.

23:01.14
mike_flywheel
Yeah.

23:06.30
Connor
Ah, so you're welcome to download and and hop on the waitlist and we'll we'll be in your city. As soon as we can. But yeah sorry didn't mean to cut you off there Mike go ahead.

23:11.60
mike_flywheel
No, no, no that like it was just it makes sense and we're obviously like we talk to canadian startups most of those startups tend to launch in candidates. It's cool I didn't even realize this many people from different places in the world were going to tune in be interested in what canadian startups are up to but shout out to all those countries. It's pretty cool right? Um, so Vancouver.

23:27.28
Connor
Yeah, yeah.

23:30.89
mike_flywheel
Toronto especially if you're like 18 to 26 or if you just really want to like shake up the dating experience. You guys are doing a bit of a closed pool right now just to get things right? but any any indication and like when you're going like ga when this is. More broadly available and and in width cities. If maybe it's the same too.

23:53.23
Connor
Yeah I mean we want to launch as soon as we can um those 2 cities are where we're targeting first we'll probably then hit you know l a camera camera and our cofounders in l a we've got you know a significant interest in launching in those 3 cities because. I mean those are the cities. We know the most. But I mean I don't have an exact date but I'll just say as as soon as possible. We want to get this out there in the hands of people. Um, you know so they can meet someone really cool for themselves.

24:21.80
mike_flywheel
That's cool. You're thinking in less than or more than the next twelve months not gonna hold you to it but just curious less less than the next twelve months okay that's super cool. Um, that's obvious piece of businesses I mean there's lots of.

24:25.13
Connor
Definitely last definitely within the next I'd say six months or so.

24:38.51
mike_flywheel
Philanthropic businesses. But I assume you guys intend to make money somewhere otherwise you're going to be back out on the street selling your $40 paintings for an Xbox where see I just dry as humor where and how do you guys make money in in this.

24:48.46
Connor
Um, if.

24:56.47
Connor
Yeah I mean with with a dating up. There's There's a lot of directions to go. We've got a few revenue streams that we're targeting First of all I want to say for the time being everything's free. Um, because we're focused heavily on you know, building out a strong user experience. Um.

25:06.22
mike_flywheel
Okay.

25:13.60
Connor
You know instead of making money at our stage but eventually when we when we do you know charge. There's common areas we're dating app charges and then there's not so common things that we're also working on we we really do like the events area which we're we're so we're exploring into. We had an event where you know 400 people show up showed up. Sorry. Which was pretty successful so you know ticketed events are 1 place where we could you know generate some revenue but primarily there's 2 areas that we're looking at 1 of them is subscriptions. So you know you pay a little bit every month and you get access to features that give you more premium experience and then in-app purchases. Um, as well. So like 1 off ah you know $3 or a dollar you know payments and then you get little bonuses which you know there's all kinds of things that we we do there.

25:59.35
mike_flywheel
So you could like drop like a little Easter egg in there and bring like the nostalgic find my emoji game back into early and you can test your reaction skills with a future date and see like who's like real sharp.

26:11.10
Connor
Um I got.

26:14.33
Connor
I Like that? yeah that could be interesting Actually that's not about idea.

26:18.57
mike_flywheel
I know I know I saw you writing the notes down and I get like 1.0 one percent for that idea if it makes into the app I'm in um it I love it. Um, what I know we've been like joking around but building an app.

26:26.93
Connor
I'll send you some shares. Yeah for sure. Okay.

26:36.29
mike_flywheel
Of This magnitude is is definitely not easy. Um, what's been like the hardest part for you so far as you've and are you the coder like is that your background like you've obviously had some experience in this but like how. How or who's building this and what just generally as a business has been the hardest part so far for you.

26:58.37
Connor
Yeah, so I mean I'm not I'm not the one developing this we have a team of really strong developers. Um, who who are building this I Laura and I we kind of collectively did the user experience with help from some other people. Um, along the way. But ah yeah I mean the most difficult part to be totally honest with you is just like the ups and downs of like you know startup life as as cliche as it sounds I mean one day you'll be on top of the world. You'll you'll have closed a great you know deal and then. You know the next day you'll be like oh you know our engineer like you know he broke his arm so he can't work tomorrow or so I mean that's a bad example, but you know what I mean right? like it's just never really know what you're going to get day in day out which is the most difficult part but it's also kind of the most fun part. You know what? I mean.

27:39.80
mike_flywheel
Um, yeah, yeah.

27:50.48
mike_flywheel
Yep I like it and so you're in um, you're in all app store. So like Google play store Apple store like Itunes store is that where people would download it. They go to your website or or either or I guess so.

28:04.15
Connor
Were just type in irli on the on the app store. We're right now only on Apple because we're we're in beta but we'll be. We'll be launching on Android really soon? Um, but yeah IrL why on the Apple app store and you'll ah you'll get in there.

28:18.91
mike_flywheel
Okay I would I would download it to support you. But I think that'll create some problems on the home front. So I probably won't download it to support you but I will let people know about early and I rlydot app a Pp um, can you just. I want to go back to this event thing you talked about that was an interesting concept and we kind of just glossed over it tell me about this event.

28:44.19
Connor
Yeah I mean we had sort of a small launch pre-launch event I would call it. Um it was it was in Toronto is about a month ago ah we saw a lot of success. We we partnered with this fraternity. Um. And we had them. You know in order to enter into the party. It was a download for the app basically and we we saw you know very good numbers and people really enjoyed it and I mean it was just a fun experience. Overall so people are really looking to get in person these days and I think. The best way to really meet someone is in person. Ah obviously you know I'm not knocking early right? I still use our app. But I think you know the best way to judge organic chemist is in person. So I think if we could do some kinds of singles events and things like that going forward I think that would be. Something that we're really interested in as well.

29:39.10
mike_flywheel
Yeah, it's a balance like there's discovery and then there's like learning more about each other and then there's at some point meeting what I thought I thought you were in real life irl. But then I realized there's a why So that doesn't really work. So yeah, early and what does early stand for again.

29:54.63
Connor
I Really like you.

29:57.26
mike_flywheel
Okay, so like is that like I'm old man is that like a thing that people type as well like hey I just drop you an I R L Y like if I'm like feeling you over text is that like what people do or they might start doing it now because you guys are starting the trend.

30:10.86
Connor
I mean Yeah, yeah, you could say that I mean it's not like lol level where you're like you know everybody knows it but like it's a type of thing where like if you know you know like if you type it. It's like okay I get what you're saying you know.

30:25.95
mike_flywheel
Fuck all right? all right? So I'm gonna add it to my dryed text repertoire when I'm messaging people and I like send like Kk right? like it's like oh he gave me 2 Semis happys sometimes he just replies with one k. Like l lol with a period. What does it mean it doesn't have a period I'm like overthinking all that um I love that you guys are the games I'm like scrolling through on the website here. Let's play trivia like it makes it. It's sort of I guess would take.

30:47.00
Connor
Which.

30:58.35
mike_flywheel
Some of the pressure off and like help you break past like the bullshit like small talk a little bit right? and.

31:04.47
Connor
Yeah, that's exactly what we're aiming for like we really want people to get out of their heads and and you know have fun. Um, and that's kind of the issue like you know when you're texting you're overthinking and chances are you're like texting your friend. Oh what should I say like.

31:21.45
mike_flywheel
Yeah, fucking chat gbting up your conversation.

31:22.70
Connor
What's the best like what pickup lines should I say and things like that. But ultimately that's not you exactly bro. That's I mean there's a whole thing right now I don't know if you saw it Theres this This startup is doing something called Ris ai okay, um, and.

31:33.13
mike_flywheel
No okay, what's that what's that.

31:40.11
Connor
It's basically pickup lines for tinder. So you you put in someone's profile and it gives you it analyzes it with with Ai and then it gives you a bunch of pickup lines to send to that person. So it's interesting, but the but the thing is from the side of the girl or the guy or whoever you're sending the pickup line to you have no clue you know.

31:43.29
mike_flywheel
Okay.

31:58.84
Connor
What the person you're talking to is actually going to be like like you know you don't have raise Ai when you're in person you know, no risk man.

32:02.53
mike_flywheel
Yeah, no riz no just just drop the ball. Wow this is blowing my mind. This is like I know nothing about this space I'm learning a ton. It sounds like you guys are doing some really cool stuff. Um I'm excited to kind of watch watch the journey. Like I said and you know I don't think I can sign up because I might get into some trouble but um I do want to keep in touch with you and and hear how things are going and next time you're out in Toronto. It almost feels like there is you know before we start you werere talking about like arnov and the din team and there's like a weird like.

32:35.15
Connor
Yeah, yeah.

32:39.61
mike_flywheel
Blend of something that you you all should be doing because there's like dating and then there's like food and there's like the virtual aspect and then the in-person aspect. There's like wait I know you guys all went to Ubc. So maybe you're already talking that way but some really cool synergies I'm feeling.

32:56.14
Connor
Yeah, for sure I mean we're always open to collaboration. So our know if you're listening hit me up man not sounds good man. Um.

33:01.27
mike_flywheel
First. Ah I'll give the pre-recording when I see him this weekend cool um, any any other thoughts on your side Cameron I know we talked about a whole bunch of things that you're all working on but I always want to make sure you connor you know. What Cameron's name stuck in my head now man um, what? what are like any closing thoughts on your side Connor that you wanted to to make sure that you know people heard about what you guys are doing it early um or or anything that you think we didn't cover today.

33:20.17
Connor
Oh man.

33:35.88
Connor
Yeah I mean again, like we're dating up but our goal in general is to connect new people. So if you're looking to meet new people. Um build new relationships and in the most organic and fun way possible. Um. You know, check out early irly type it in on your Apple app store. Um, if you have any questions or any suggestions I'm an open book and I'm more than open to criticism or feedback. Um, you can you can send me anything I'm I'm out there Connor Roads just look me up. Um. And yeah, that's that's basically it man.

34:13.49
mike_flywheel
I love it and then we've already seen Cameron Dallas's ability to influence me, you just dropped his name like 3 times and I started calling you cameron or like man this guy's got like influence powers that he doesn't even know about. Oh boy, you know? is you you both have like celebrity status names at this point like my name is I'm never going to be famous for anything because it's just like super not celebrity status status but like Cameron Dallas Connor Rose like it feels like if you you know.

34:41.70
Connor
Um, is.

34:43.21
mike_flywheel
If you set your profile up on early. No one's going to believe you're a real person I'm just letting you guys. Both know that simultaneously just so you know.

34:47.72
Connor
Is that's pretty funny man. But dude I mean you do have kind of a famous name. There is a bulls coach who's in the coach in the KNexts or something right now is the same last name of you right.

35:00.73
mike_flywheel
I don't know there's a truck that I always see driving by and I'm like I don't own anything in that truck. It says Tibato. It's like driving by ti people like you on that truck. Nope no chance. So I don't know one day. maybe maybe I'll find something famous in my in my bloodline somewhere but um, Connor. Blast talking to you today. A lot of fun I hope you had fun I hope I'm way better to chat with in person in real life and then then whatever messages I exchanged back and forth over email and and some Linkedin messages.

35:31.61
Connor
Fifth. Yes.

35:34.88
mike_flywheel
I don't think you probably were ready for this level of Hype and and vibe and at a podcast but you got it anyway. Thanks again for joining us today. Connor.

35:42.10
Connor
Um, yeah, thank you so much for having me man I appreciate it.

35:44.78
mike_flywheel
All right talk to everybody later I catch you on pitch. Please.