Latest / The Wilmac Wire / Mid-Year Check-In | Season 3 Reflections & a Wilmac Update

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Mid-Year Check-In | Season 3 Reflections & a Wilmac Update · The Wilmac Wire

• Emily McNulty: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone, and welcome or welcome back to the Will Mac Wire. Thank you for tuning in. We've got a different type of episode geared up for you today. So I'm gonna keep this intro pretty short. No guess for today's episode, just Steve and yours truly. We do these every so often, but the last one that we did was In particular, our first, I believe, episode of season three. so it's been a hot minute, it's been over six months. They're honestly those some of my favorite episodes, because we really get a chance to slow down, reflect, and have a real conversation about what's been going on. Not very often, Steve and I are getting questions asked towards us, and in this type of conversational setting, it gives us a chance to share more of our our thoughts and opinions on on what's been happening. So this is episode 25 of season three, which is absolutely wild to say out loud because last year we did 25 episodes total across the entirety of season two. So we're six or so months into 2026 and we're already there. And we've got a huge lineup of guests for the second half, half of season three. So to say the least, it's been pretty busy, but a good busy. So today, really, we're just talking about what's been top of mind for us lately. You get you'll get some personal icebreakers to learn more about Steve and myself. and we just chat about what's been going on in the industry in our local community and what's been happening at Wilmac. So great episode. Thanks to Steve as always for humoring me and and joining me on the podcast every time and letting me ask him some crazy icebreaker questions. so thank you to to our listeners for for tuning in. I hope you enjoy season three, episode twenty-five of the Will Macquire. All right. Hi everyone. Welcome or welcome back to the Will Mac Wire. I am one of your co hosts, Emily McNalty, and I am joined today just by my other co host, Steve McDonnell. Steve, how you doing? Stephen McDonnell: Mm-hmm. I'm good. Excited for today. First episode with just the two of us. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I was about to say we're for our listeners, we're we're running a a solo episode today. You just get Steve and I to chit chat. but we don't we don't do this too often. So we're gonna start putting it into the rotation a little bit more consistently. but for our listeners, this is episode twenty-five of season three and is airing on on June twenty-fifth. but Steve, I was doing some research before and last year in season two, we released twenty five episodes total. So we're about halfway through this calendar year and we are already we've already met our our number of episodes that we hit last year. So that's pretty crazy. A lot of content that we're pushing, which is exciting though. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I did not know that. That is that's impressive. T we have twenty five episodes under our belt. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I was I was surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So we've we've recorded a lot. I was about to say, and I forced you to to record multiple at a time. so we're ahead of the game. Stephen McDonnell: I didn't and I wasn't part of most of last year's. Emily McNulty: No, no. So we've had including Bob, I don't know, probably twenty to twenty-three guests on. and our list is our list is growing. So we've got a great great second half. Stephen McDonnell: With with no producer for those out there, Emily and her team track down all guests. Emily McNulty: Yep, it's fun. Most people will say yes to doing a podcast. So I have to say, so if there is anyone out there who would be interested in on in being on this podcast, you are more than welcome to reach out to us too. Stephen McDonnell: It's funny, our sales reps are always like people respond more to getting on the podcast than they will a business call. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. I know, I know. It's it's pretty funny. We talked about that quite a bit at our at our half years who maybe from our customer base or our partner base that we could ask. And I was like, I'm I'm I have a pretty good track record for getting people to agree. So if they're not reaching or responding to you, maybe they'll respond to me. So yeah, it's pretty pretty comical. But congratulations. We're on episode twenty five of season three. That's no no small feat. Okay, you know I had to start with an icebreaker. You knew it it was coming. so Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, my first time my first time being on the spot on this side of it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. No, we're both gonna answer it. So it's not a this or that. It's not an on point or off point. It's just like we got a couple questions that are a little bit more personal to us. So the first one is what are we currently watching? Do you have anything that you've been watching lately that's been top of mind? Stephen McDonnell: Okay. so it's both of us. Good. All right. Yes. I just have to remember what it was called. Widow's Bay. It's kind of like I think it's Apple TV, I wanna say. It's it's like a horror but kind of black comedy, tongue in cheek. The guy from the Americans. I don't know if you remember that show way back when. He's on it. It's good. So we've been into that. some show called The Burroughs. Another kind of scary. My wife's into scary stuff, so. Emily McNulty: what's that on? Yeah. Mm. Yep. Okay. Stephen McDonnell: Those have been the two latest ones. What about you? Emily McNulty: Yeah, count me count me out of that. I've I've been struggling to get into a show lately. So I've been doing a lot of sports. You know, my husband is super into soccer, so we were following closely with Team USA on Friday and in FIFA. NBA finals we watched closely, even though I struggle to to watch NBA. and you know, you you made a LinkedIn post about it. Stephen McDonnell: I did. Got some traction. I actually I'm not a soccer guy at at all. Like it I can't follow it. It takes too long for the same some of the same reasons that I was talking about NBA of late. but was it Friday night when the USA played? That was fantastic. Like glued to the T V, absolutely awesome. So apparently I'm back in on soccer. Yeah. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great game. Yeah. They came out hot, but I'm trying to figure out a way we can engage the office with some of the the FIFA games, how we could put some put some fun brackets around it or something. But but so yeah, mostly sports and then a little bit of WNBA. I know they're in the the heat of the WNBA season and for our listeners I'm big basketball fan, Steve and I. So Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Lot of drama around Caitlin Clark. We don't have to get into it, but a lot of drama. Emily McNulty: Lot of drama around yeah. A lot of drama. okay, so shared what we're currently watching. next up, what we're currently reading or listening to. Cause I know you you listen to a lot of podcasts, so care to share any of those. Stephen McDonnell: yeah. So deep in the podcast, All what is it? Not all in one. I always I talk about it on the all in, excuse me. that's always one of my top ones. reading a couple books now. I'm into Peter Thiel big time right now, who's a serial entrepreneur investor. He has a great book called Zero to One that I'm reading. And then another one by Ben Hurowitz, another kind of venture capitalist guy. The hard Emily McNulty: The all in podcast? Yeah. Mm. Stephen McDonnell: I think it's the hard things about hard things. Both very good, insightful books. But there's a podcast I'm listening to right now. Found it like last week, Knuckle Up with Nicole. I'm on my like second or third episode with him. Emily McNulty: Yeah, no, I I added that on my my queue. I have a long a long drive, so I have all my podcasts queued up. yeah, I'll go more towards the reading edge. our any of our our Will Mac employees who are listening will appreciate this. But I'm I started reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Bob talks about it, I think Once a week and Nick and Grace are constantly chatting on it. And I'm like, guys, don't tell me because I'm reading it now. No spoilers. so that's a bit of a sci-fi type book. for sure. Yeah, I think Brian might have read it too. But so yeah, so I'm catching up to the to the masses on that one. and then another one is actually by Stephen McDonnell: I feel like the whole dev team is into that series. Emily McNulty: An upcoming guest. So Adam Tim from the Healthy Dispatcher is joining us and he has a couple books out there. We've got we're good. We've been going to a lot of public safety conferences and they've been speaking. So I'm reading his people driven leadership book, which is very sp specific to to nine one one. So those are the two that I'm I'm bouncing between right now. okay. Stephen McDonnell: I've I've watched Ivan Whitaker's podcast, CEO of Salt Lake Nine One One Center. he has some great guests on there. very informative. It's you know, it's beyond the beyond the launch. Another good podcast. Emily McNulty: Yes. Mm-hmm. Beyond the launch. Yeah. So for our listeners, yeah. Ivan was a recent guest on guest on the Wilmac wire and just has a lot of a lot of knowledge and a lot of connections in the in the space. So Steve, I know we got to chat with you for an episode, but he's he's building up his presence for sure. So I we definitely recommend going to check that one out. big podcast fans over here. So that's why we started our own. Okay, next thing on the li list is favorite recent meal or restaurant that you've been to. Stephen McDonnell: probably Redwood in Rochester. Great steak place on Monroe Ave. Good food, good steak, good atmosphere. Emily McNulty: Okay. Good food. Yeah. Yeah. yeah, we Joe and I don't my husband and I don't eat out too often. so we've been grilling a ton in the back. I love love to grill. We were out on the pool out of the pool all day Saturday when it was beautiful up here and just grilling. That's my type of day. Stephen McDonnell: What's your go to grill food? Emily McNulty: I've been I've been on sausages like eggs or not sa yeah, sausages with some peppers and onions. Ooh, yeah. That's the go to. That's the go to. How about you? I know it's summer months, so have you guys been grilling a lot? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. That's a good one. Yep, chicken and fish. Emily McNulty: Mm. Okay, what kind of fish on the grill? Stephen McDonnell: I put it in tinfoil and oil so it doesn't slide all over the place. Any white fish carry likes. So a lot of halibut. tilapia. Any of that. Emily McNulty: Mmm, nice. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Yum. Yeah. That sounds good. I'll have to try that. okay, and then last one, something that you've been into lately that has nothing to do with work. Stephen McDonnell: Well, I don't know if I've been into it lately as much as the past, but it's summertime, so I'm trying to get out to golf, but it keeps getting worse summer and summer, my game and the amount of golf I'm playing. but I'm trying to play more golf, which isn't going well. No. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. No. Well, I know we've we're committed to a couple of tournaments, like sponsored tournaments coming up too. So hopefully you'll be able to get out for a few of those. Yeah, it's busy. yeah, you'll be you'll be proud of me for this. I've been trying to get to a driving range more so I can better my game. 'cause for our listeners, I don't like being bad at things. So golf I struggle. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, that's the only way I can play these. Emily McNulty: I Stephen McDonnell: So are you gonna get out and play with Joe now? Emily McNulty: I'm gonna try to. He wraps up school in like a week and a half and I think I told you he got a pass so he can go basically whenever he wants to cer a couple of certain courses. so I'm gonna probably try to go out with him. I just struggle when it's not fast moving. Like I can commit to I think nine holes to start. Stephen McDonnell: If the t if it's just a two you for nine holes, you get you can move fast. If it's not a busy time of day. Emily McNulty: yeah, for sure. So yeah, but I feel like for my business acumen, I need to lock in, get into it. so yeah, but it's summertime, so I love love being outside for sure. the dog's been loving the fence and running around a lot. So enjoying almost a year now in the new house. So it's been good. I'm pumped for it. okay, so Stephen McDonnell: Be able to play. Yeah. Emily McNulty: I figured for today's episode, like I said, with it just being you and I, Steve, we can kinda reflect a little bit on on season three, talk a little bit about the industry and locally, and then just kind of get a give a little bit of a state of the union. so starting with that mid-year reflection, I know I I mentioned at the top of the episode, but this is our twenty fifth episode of season three. Last year in season two, we did a bi weekly cadence. This year we're doing weekly. what do you what are you pumped about for the Will MacWire? Like we've been chatting with a lot of awesome people. What's been top of mind for you? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think having the guests on is awesome. I like that we kind of have we'll have local business guests, local politicians, and then we shift over to actual potential customers or prospects or industry leaders for the industries that that we work in. So I think having that diversity has been awesome. I think it's we're getting better and better. It's ease way easier when you're in the Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: the actual podcast like situation when we have someone live than doing doing it like this. so I think in the future we want to do more of those, which is tough in the world we live in today because half our guests are not going to be in Rochester. at least half our guests aren't going to be in Rochester. So but yeah, I I like it. I enjoy it. I th when we first started, I I would go into them being like, all right, we got to do this. We got let's let's go. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: And now I actually like get excited and and enjoy doing it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I think it it's really insightful just to to chat with people and hear about their experiences. There's so many different podcasts out there and we could take it in so many different directions. But to be able to kind of stand on both sides of industry and and local, we get to hear a lot of very unique stories. and on top of that, some very powerful People and powerful issues and just kind of spread awareness on kind of the world that we live in day to day. so I I really enjoy chatting with people. And like you said, I kind of view each as a challenge. Like, how can we break break this person open a little bit and dig into some of the the cool stuff that that they've experienced? So I'm excited to just see our our listeners a sneak peek, I guess, but the two very large scale conferences that we're attending in the public safety space. This summer, Nina twenty twenty-six and ABCO twenty twenty-six, we're gonna be doing some live podcast recordings there. pulling clips from from some live interviews. So I'm I'm pumped to see logistically how that works. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, no, I think that'll be sweet. Obviously figuring out the logistics. I the second one I'm sure will go a lot smoother than the first one, as if for our audience that continues to listen to us, you know, we've been going to a lot of conferences for our WFM and public safety stuff. And these two are like the the mega conferences, the APCO National and Nina National. So There'll be pretty cool atmospheres and hopefully just getting commitments from get some guests and we can do it right there on the floor with everything going on will be pretty cool. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. And I know you mentioned too having people in person. that I I will say for anyone out there who's listening who might be considering making a podcast, just the in person is next level compared to the online recording. There's a lot of a lot of tools out there, but we're pumped too this summer when our partners come into count into town, when our customers come into town, we try to take advantage of their time, not only just chatting with them and and building that relationship, but also bringing them into the studio and having that that face-to-face contact as as we talk talk through it. So I always gotta shout out Scott from Rock Box Studios for being our our our homeboy when it comes to recording the podcast. but all right before I move kind of into the industry and Rochester conversation, Steve hip do you have anything that you feel like has been surprising so far about the season or that you had an expectation going into that's kind of changed as we've recorded 25 episodes. Stephen McDonnell: I would say, you know, we we do this when we first did it, brand awareness, get Will Mac out there. I'd be s I'm surprised by how many random people come up to me around Rochester. or are like, yeah, we've met before. And I'm like, I don't think we've met, and then come to find out, it's like, no, I w a buddy of mine was on your podcast and I watched your podcast because of this. Or my husband was on your podcast. heard that one recently. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: So I it's nice that it's getting some traction locally. hopefully we're we're having some interesting conversations. and yeah, it's exciting. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And we're always open to, I know you and I share about it on LinkedIn often, but it's available to listen to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, YouTube. Like feel free to leave comments and questions. We'd love for for input as to who we could talk to and even sometimes with our guests, we say, All right, who who would you suggest us reaching out to next? so yeah, especially too with with some of our public safety folks, some of our enterprise folks. it's funny when they make the comment when they come on that they're like, well, this person was on it, so I had to be on it. Or they had heard of so-and-so on the podcast. So yeah, it's it's fun to to see the traction building. okay, so we'll move a little bit now into kind of the Rochester and industry specific talk. but I guess we we chatted about it with Bob in the behind the build episode a few weeks back. but Steve, is there anything that you've been seeing kind of in the broader AI technology landscape that feels like very relevant to Will Mac right now that you feel like our our listeners should know about? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, like I I think we were just smack dab in the middle of all these AI decisions going on there. So it it's constant. You know, we we've built these SaaS solutions over the past three to f four years, I guess. if you pay attention to the markets, if you pay attention to our industry, you know, the SaaS apocalypse was happening. and luckily for us, we were building some AI native a agents for both the products. But, you know, I don't, I don't think it's as doom and gloom as people think, but we are literally at the intersection in the middle of it on a daily basis, figuring out pricing, consumption versus seed. Seat's your typical SaaS consumption is kind of where AI native products are pushing you to. So we are literally in the intersection of everything you're hearing about. On the news. obviously, SpaceX was the big news last week, but you really drilled down to SpaceX. You know, I think Elon has is building a massive conglomerate. and AI is going to be backing all of that. Grok is positioned to do very well. I know it's not up right now with anthropic and open AI, but it's got a lot more horsepower behind it, I would say, literally power. so Being in Rochester and kind of being the inner intersection of it all is pretty cool and figuring out, all right, where are we going to put our resources to? and I think for us it's just really being curious, talking to everybody, especially our customers, and figuring out how we how we plow forward, but being able to change on a daily basis. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that flexibility. I think the our the position where we're at, and we talked about it a lot at the half year meeting internally. but we're small and nimble, we've always been that way. And if we can continue to find ways to to be that way as we grow, that's huge. and on the AI piece, I think we talked about it a little bit with Bob too, but the PR around AI is very poor. So I encourage everyone listening just to continue educating themselves. s and use just testing it, using it. Steve mentioned too your the podcast, all in podcast. That's how I educate myself on it. It's a great, great type of podcast to listen to. It's coming from multiple people with with different positions and angles. so yeah. What were you gonna say, Steve? Sorry. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. I mean I I it's funny. I th I live because of the world we live in and some of the podcasts and circles, I guess I'm paying attention to. I'm in a in somewhat of an AI bubble and don't see all the negative stuff unless I really go out and look at it. But if you just go to the regular media, I guess you're gonna see a lot of negative stuff. and again, I would say go out and educate yourselves. Really be curious, try this stuff. listen to podcasts, listen to the actual people building this. there's a lot of doom and gloom. There's a lot of negativity towards it, but all I see is efficiency and productity gonna save lives. I think, you know, a lot of it right now has been all right, software engineers and dev, their jobs are getting taken over. Now they're moving over to healthcare. I think you're gonna see some unbelievable things in the next couple of years. And what AI can do in the healthcare sector. So it is tough for the negative publicity and there's a ton of money around it. but I also think people are building incredible things. You know, that's that's capitalism and that's innovation, and that's how our country was built. So I would agree with educate yourself as much as possible. Emily McNulty: Yeah, and I mean we've we've gone through these cycles before, like in the history of our our world. Like we talked about it with the calculator, we talked about it with the internet, like it's here. it's just up to you to figure out w how you can utilize it and how it can it can benefit you. And I mean, speaking from our experience, like at Willmac, we've just been curious and we've tried to encourage it across the organization. We haven't necessarily like tried to force it in people's faces, but we've encouraged it and rewarded and like congratulated people who've been able to do incredible things with it. So it's really just just learning. So really exciting space to be in right now. no, you mentioned it a little bit, but locally we've been talking a lot about AI too. Rochester is is kind of we've talked about it in the past, but There's obviously opportunities for it to improve and it's trying to figure out kind of how it can build itself back up again. And I know you've been involved in a lot of those conversations. So do you want to talk a little bit about how you've been thinking about AI in Rochester and how Will Mac's position is building AI agents in kind of our region is is impacting it? Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I think it it's good timing. I was just reading an article before I hopped on here about New York State might be the first state to halt any construction or any investing in in data centers for whatever reason. not good at all. if we want to attract talent, grow startup, bring capital in here, just all of that isn't good. You know, you listen to these podcasts of the guys and Girls and companies that are doing this, and when they hear stuff like that about New York, it's just leaves a bad taste in their mouth and they say it out loud. And it's just not a good situation. I think New York in general needs to embrace AI and not look at it negatively, or we're gonna get left behind. this stuff is moving way too quick. You see the news. it's not gonna wait. And I think Rochester is in a good spot. but We have to make some changes. We gotta get a startup ecosystem going. We gotta get more innovation. I mean, I we know Rochester pretty well. And there's some big companies that may ha have some AI built into some of their applications, like paychecks. but I wouldn't call them an AI native company by any means. And then you have some AI maybe consulting firms. but To have one company in a city the size of ours with the universities that we have, us being the only what I can see so far, true AI native company actually building products to go out to market with. there's your Amazon partners and your Microsoft partners that are using AI and building products for customers. 100%, you have that in Rochester, but I think we're the only company that's AI native building our own products to actually ship them out to customers. and there should be way more in Rochester. So having a lot of discussions with the right people, I think everyone's head's in the right spot. and a lot of people are getting getting their head around AI. Rochester has had a lot of the same industries forever. So understanding this and also figuring out how to back it. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: take some time. and unfortunately with AI, time is not your friend. So we want to keep pushing it. we'll be at the forefront of it. And I think it's important for Rochester and all of New York to to start embracing it. Emily McNulty: Yeah. Yeah. And I think you've been doing a tremendous job doing that and speaking up and educating other people in in the community about it. But on top of that, like this podcast is a way that we we do that too. We try to bring in as many local community leaders as we can. to one maybe get them a little bit more curious and a little bit more educated on the subject. So it it's top of mind for them. like Steve said, we're we're you're we're in it every day. So it's something that we're constantly thinking, thinking about and reflecting on. and it definitely feels like with how quickly AI moves moves, that we ha you have to be thinking about it that way or you're gonna be left behind. so I know we talked about it with Bob in the last episode, but if you're not thinking about it now, like how behind are you, you know? so we're just gonna keep it we're gonna keep talking about it until our faces turn blue. So Stephen McDonnell: Yeah, I th I think it's tough for people because forever, at least in the past hundred, two hundred years, you were supposed to learn something and become an expert at it. whether that's college or training, whatever it may be, and then you become an expert at it and you just do it and do it, do it. AI is forcing people to kind of become entrepreneurial mindset, like. You have to constantly be curious with this stuff. It's gonna change constantly. And you have to be willing to change with it and be curious and utilize it. It's not something that just up, here you go. Here's the 10-step process that might take you a month to learn. But once you learn it, you're good to go. That's just not how it works. you really have to be tinkering with it, understand it, and be listening to and reading whatever you want to do. what everyone else is doing, learn other use cases, learn how other people are utilizing it, learn how other companies are utilizing it. So I think that's an adjustment from how society has kind of went to market forever. and now we have to change. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I mean it's fli it's flipped that traditional learning model really on its head. And I know you and I have both been in conversations with some of the local colleges and universities about how they approach teaching at like now, like with AI in the space. Like we talked about it last time with bringing in a few recent college grads into some of our entry level positions and how they kinda have been taught that AI shouldn't they shouldn't be utilizing it, that they need to be thinking on their own when realistically like I am so much more dangerous now as a marketer because I have an a tool at my fingertips that can answer really any question about marketing that I need and could help educate me on it very quickly versus me before trying to find courses online or going to a professor or just having to live the experience. So it's just enabling us a a lot quicker than I think what people expected. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. And I I fe I do feel bad for the universities. The universities are supposed to be for a learning experience and researching great knowledge. And we've turned you society has turned universities into a system for people to learn how to be in the real world. And if they want to continue being a system for people in the real world, the real wor world rewards Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Talk position. Stephen McDonnell: efficiency and speed. It doesn't matter how the hell you get it done. So I think they gotta figure out, you know, what they wanna be, and go from there. But, you know, I I don't envy them. It's a tough, tough situation for them. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Very tough position to be in for sure. All right. I'll move us kind of into now more of our our Wilmac updates, what's been going on internally. I guess State of the Union, Mr. President. How are how are you feeling? What what would you like to share with our listeners about what's been going on at Wilmac? Stephen McDonnell: Good. everything again is is moving fast. we have a lot of conferences going on. I think we mentioned in our last podcast. we have several pilots with our continuity WFM, which is awesome. I guess you could say it launched in October, but reality is it it really launched in December. we have a first paying customer and customer in production, which is awesome. One of the top five largest PSAPs in the country. so the pilots are with the largest PSAPs in the in the country. and that's where we're kind of trying to prove it out. So that's awesome to see. I don't think people understand how difficult it is to have a concept, actually build it out, get it in front of dozens upon dozens of possible prospects, get it through procurement, get it into pilot mode and get it. you know, into production that's that's not easy. And our team's been able to do it pretty freaking quick. so really proud of that. And I think we're just I know we're just scratching the surface. so that's really exciting and that's part of our business that can scale pretty predictably and pretty quick. and so pumped about that. continuity replay has the largest pipeline that we've ever had. Those deals are much larger and take time, as you know. we're dealing with fortune two thousand companies, maybe pretty much Fortune 1000, but I guess you could go to 2000, that are highly regulated. So those companies are a little bit different to work with than your nine on one agency. there's a lot more bureaucracy, a lot more steps. so putting The sales team in place and the sales process that we have right now has been a lot. And I think we're we're in a great spot. so I think we're looking good as far as far as the product front. and then both those products have their own AI agents, Mac and Archie, that can be sold, utilized, I should say, as a standalone or with them. And I I think that's probably the most exciting. When you really look at Mac and Archie, you're like, whoa. This is impressive. so we're pumped. We're more than halfway through our fiscal year. So we're looking for a big close this year. but we're tracking to at least hit our budget, if not more, which would be, you know, 25% growth again year over year. so exciting stuff. We're we're growing at a good, good pace. I think next year would probably be the big, big jump. Emily McNulty: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Stephen McDonnell: so all all exciting stuff here. What about from your end? Emily McNulty: Yeah, definitely. Yeah, from my end, similar. like sin I've I'm coming up on my five year anniversary at Will Mac, which is crazy to reflect back on where we were in twenty twenty one versus twenty twenty six and how kind of my marketing our marketing has has changed and evolved. I will say for any marketers who are listening, marketing your own products is way more fun. Than marketing resale products. but you can just feel the momentum around here. I'm I've talked about it on the podcast before, but I'm a big believer in how much brand and culture correlate. And because our people are so awesome here and because our culture is so positive, it just reflects in kind of our branding, our product, what we're building and what we're selling. Like Steve, you talk about it often that like the builders and the sellers, those are the ones who are our pushing or driving our company forward. Stephen McDonnell: You hit. Emily McNulty: And that driver mindset is so crucial. and it feels like every year we just get more and more aligned and clear on that. And it helps too with the transparency that like you omit too. You're very open with kind of where we're at and where we need to be, and when we're not up to the standard that we want to be. So setting that standard has been really important. And I love that that leadership by example mentality. Like you're in it day to day, I'm in it day to day, our hands are dirty. and we're getting into the weeds, but that's where we need to be right now if next year we wanna take that, take that jump. so I'm pumped. It's been really fun with Consum B WFM taking both a new product and a new concept to a market, to a very receptive cus or prospect base and industry that is really built on community and that everyone is impacted by as an ambulance drives by us. and then with Continuity replay on the same front, just maturing in our product marketing, how we're taking it to market, how we're positioning it, how marketing and sales and dev are hand in hand as as we build it, and expanding that customer base. It's just been, it feels like everything is is building. so yeah, I'm I'm pumped. I feel great about the team. moral in the office is high. We're in our our summer months, but We love having our food Fridays. We're a highly motivated office by food. so a lot of people still love love to come in. and Steve, like you mentioned, traveling a lot. I'm personally going to Florida this week for a conference with with John and Evan where they're speaking. it's I think the most I've ever traveled in a summer. And majority of it is because our product is is exciting and growing and and taking off. So can't complain seeing different parts of the the world because of that. So yeah. I'm I'm pumped. I'm feeling feeling good. Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. I would the just the compounding effect. You know, you you mentioned five years, which is crazy. But if you think about where we were five years ago, it's it's that's even crazier. And like the last eighteen months, how much it's jumped. So it seems like there was a lot of changes going on. Now changes are just part of our everyday life. And every six months we're a completely different size company and a different Emily McNulty: Yeah. Stephen McDonnell: type of company and as we grow that's what we gotta get used to and it's exciting. Emily McNulty: Yeah, I was about to say I I try to reiterate that to my team often because we're always like, it's a really busy season. And I'm like, get used to it. It it's always gonna be busy. We want it to be busy. if we want to hit the growth goals that we've established. So so yeah, all all very exciting stuff. okay, I that's really all I had on the docket for today. Steve, is there anything else you wanted to share with with our listeners before before I wrap us up? Stephen McDonnell: No, this has been exciting. Emily and her team have been doing a great job. I really just come in here and get to speak what's on my mind and ask crazy questions. So thanks to Emily and her team for really running with this. It's been great. I would say we have some awesome guests lined up for the second half of the year. So please tune in. and we'll keep giving you updates on where Wilmac is. and if you're interested in hopping on. Give us a shout. Emily McNulty: Send us a send us a message for sure. Yeah. Thanks, Steve. It's been a ton of fun having you on as a co-host and just asking tough questions and thinking of things that I wouldn't have thought of because you and I have very different personalities. And hey, it works out really well. So appreciate you spending time, taking time out of your busy schedule to, to hop on with all these different guests. so that being said, for our listeners to stay connected with, Stephen McDonnell: Yeah. Emily McNulty: Steve and I, we the best places for sure, LinkedIn. You can find Steve at Stephen McDonnell on LinkedIn, and you can find me at Emily McNulty also on LinkedIn. But to stay connected with Wilmac and follow along with kind of what Steve, a lot of the stuff that Steve and I just chatted about and what we're living day to day. You can follow Wilmac Technologies on LinkedIn, visit WilmacTech.com for more resources. subscribe to the Continuity WFM and continuity replay release newsletters that go out on a monthly cadence. And as always, you can come join us here and tune in on the Will MacWire every Thursday. So that's that. Nice solo episode, Steve. Thanks for thanks for joining us. All right. Thank you. Stephen McDonnell: Awesome. Pumped up. Thanks, everyone.