Latest / Auto Collabs / One Billion Lines of Data Every Month with Steve White

Transcript

One Billion Lines of Data Every Month with Steve White · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Here we go, another intro where Michael's laughing and we just hit record. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Oh. I have a question. I have a real question for both of you. Okay.
• 0:15
  Because, uh, as a guy- Why does it feel like it's not a real question?... that has hair. [laughs] Didn't feel like a question. Okay. Okay, yeah. Okay. Let's, let's have it, let's have it.
• 0:24
  As a guy that has hair, every couple few weeks I gotta trim that joker up just to make su- Like, what is the volume of shaving that has to happen to keep the bald head tight at all times?
• 0:36
  Like, you- I have a problem with this because it was easier when I had hair. Because I'm, I like to have things, like, in order and in their place.
• 0:44
  And so it's like, you only get, like, if you shave your head with, like, a straight or a razor, you only get, like, two really good days out of it. Yep, yep.
• 0:54
  By the end of day two, you're like, "I gotta, I gotta reset this thing." And that's, uh, really annoy- I don't know if it's a thing for you, but, like, when I'm on the road, it's just way harder than when I'm at home.
• 1:03
  I don't know why. Yeah. Yeah. I can't imagine. Well, 'cause you, you gotta go in blind, right? Like- It's the mirror situation. Yeah. It's the water's different. You just have your own little chemistry.
• 1:11
  So, like, two days, but I don't know. He- here's my secret. Date, the night, the, the night before or the morning of an event, that, that, before I fly out, that sucker gets the big. Yep. I'm down with that. Right?
• 1:23
  Same strategy. Right. Little swipes. Then I have a Remington electric to, to maintain me- Ooh... while I'm on the road. Yeah. Just keep you down. Got it. And that's, that's my game plan. Mm.
• 1:35
  [laughs] Well, hey, uh- All that equals to me too much work... maybe game plans have to do something. [laughs] Too much work, by the way. Way too much work. Too much work. Way too much work.
• 1:43
  But today we're actually, we're talking with Steve White. Steve White's a good friend. Speaking of somebody with hair. Been a good friend for a while. Nice hair. Steve's got great hair. Nice hair. [laughs] Great guy.
• 1:51
  And, uh, w- we just actually came off, you know, I, I got to have him on a panel at a SoDoCon. And, like, the depth of knowledge this guy has of da- He goes, "Kyle, I don't know if you know this, but, um-" I'm a robot...
• 2:06
  "our company basically adds a billion rows of data to our-" Oh- "... data set every single month"... good night... and I was like, "That's probably why you know a lot about all this stuff." Good night. One billion.
• 2:17
  [laughs] Woo. That's unbelievable, right? A da- a month they're adding a billion rows of data to their data set. [laughs] So I can't wait to dig into that. Uh, we hope that you enjoy this conversation with Steve.
• 2:30
  [upbeat music] So Steve, thanks so much for joining us. We've interacted on so many different, like, on stages and in person, but I think this is the first time we have you all to ourselves for a podcast. Yeah. It is.
• 2:46
  It is. I'm excited. It's good to be here. So y- we, you know, on this show, we like to get a little bit more personal, like, to understand the story behind the story.
• 2:55
  And I just realized, I don't- He's like, "Tell me what you had for breakfast"... well, but not that, not that far. [laughs] More like, I don't know how you got into the auto industry. Oh, okay. Yeah.
• 3:06
  It's, it's, uh, it's a funny story. So in 2004, uh, I joined, uh, a local CBS affiliate. Uh, and they said, "Hey, can you help us, uh, sell these things called banner ads?"
• 3:21
  So basically, they wanted to help monetize, they wanted me to help monetize their website. Uh- Okay... and w- one of our bigger advertiser groups, uh, at a TV station is, uh, auto dealers. Yeah.
• 3:32
  Uh, and so, uh, I saw an opportunity with the local newspaper, which also owns the TV station, to say, "Hey, let's do a, a joint venture between our two companies, uh, and do a regional automotive portal."
• 3:46
  Uh, so together we launched columbuscars.com, uh, in 2005. So... Ni- okay. So like a, like a listing site? Yeah. Yep. That's ama- okay. So tell...
• 3:59
  Wait, 'cause then at that point you would've been, like, competing at that point with Autotrader and Cars basically- Yeah... were the only two things on the market. Yep. How did that go locally?
• 4:09
  Was it, like, something that got adopted, or was it kind of a secondary, you know? It was, it was, it was a s- definitely a secondary.
• 4:16
  I, I think it was a way for, uh, us to get into digital with auto dealers, to be honest.
• 4:23
  I mean, it was like, "Hey, we can put your listing up here, and also we can sell you, uh, an online and an offline package," you know? And so it was a, it was, it was a good bundling type of, type of effect.
• 4:35
  Um, but, you know, I would definitely say it was not generating the lead volume, uh, that like a, uh, a traditional marketplace was. Yeah, but it's like it, it's an easy in, right? Yeah. It's a, it's an easy in. Totally.
• 4:47
  Yeah. That's cool. So then how did you... So now you've become, like, the, the, one of the tech forward people in auto. What was the progress from, like, selling banner ads to- [laughs] Right...
• 4:59
  now I'm, now I'm thinking about the, some of the deepest tech that auto has? Yeah. So, so then I, I left there.
• 5:05
  I got recruited, uh, from there to go work for a company called, uh, Auto Dealer Traffic, which was, like, early pioneer in automotive search marketing. Uh, so I was there for, like, three years.
• 5:19
  Uh, and then I went out on my own after that, uh, to start my own, uh, agency. And one of my first, uh, clients, uh, uh, when I started was, uh, was Rhett Reichert. Uh, and so m- my big pitch to him was, "Hey,
• 5:34
  I won't be like a traditional agency. I won't charge you a percentage of spend. I'll only charge you when we, you know, perform on a leads basis or..."
• 5:44
  Um, it was back in the day when, like, keywords were really important, like your keyword ranking and stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
• 5:49
  And so we came, we came up with this thing where we said, "We will only charge you if you, we increase your keyword rankings."
• 5:55
  So, uh, I often joke, I say, "You know, if I wanted to pay my mortgage that month, I had to be really good at measurement."
• 6:02
  Uh, and so that was kind of the foray into getting really good, uh, at measurement because everything was tied to the performance of, of how well we were doing from an SEO perspective in particular.
• 6:12
  So what year about was this? 2009.So te- can you tell us about Rhett, Rhett Reichert- Like the internet was still trying to be born, I feel... Yeah. Can you tell us about Rhett Reichert in 2009?
• 6:22
  'Cause we only know the, like, almost retired NADA president version. Yeah. Uh, he was super hands-on. For sure. Uh, he was-- Yeah, he was, he was super hands-on.
• 6:32
  Um, in fact, uh, while I was working with them, I was invited to their general manager meeting every single week, and then would present, uh, uh, updates, uh, on, um, on different aspects of the digital marketing.
• 6:46
  And then the other thing that I did, uh, that was during the whole, uh, Cash for Clunkers. Uh, and so one of the things I did is I said, "Hey, Rhett, I think we should do something around Clunkers."
• 6:59
  And I said, "I, I'm, I think I can get a phone number 614-CLUNKER." Uh, so I secured 614-CLUNKER for them, and they ran it, uh, on- Oh my goodness... yeah, they ran it on TV for, I don't know, six, nine months.
• 7:13
  Uh, and they just killed it. Um, so- Oh my gosh. Think of that. Back in the day. Yeah. Especially. Oh my goodness. Now I'm like, wait a second. The actual- Wait a second... No, that's it...
• 7:22
  has anyone created area code EV CREDIT yet? Yeah, right. It's like the same exact thing, right? [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. You still remember the number. That's a free one. We're five minutes into the podcast. Yeah.
• 7:34
  [laughs] Everybody got a free one- Everybody's like [laughs]... on us. [laughs] Yeah. That's good. That's amazing. Yeah. So, so you're in the Columbus area. Yeah. Are you, are you an Ohio State fan? No.
• 7:46
  I went, I went to Indiana, Indiana University. So I'm an IU fan, so we don't have much of a football team, so it's- [laughs]... it's all, it's all, it's all basketball. All basketball. [laughs] Yeah.
• 7:55
  Yeah, you're like, "I don't really care about-" Yeah. At least Indiana fans don't care about... Man, that was, that was my whole-- I was like- That was his point of connection... I was gonna be all excited.
• 8:04
  I did go to school in In-Indiana. Not Indiana University, just a little piddly school, so it doesn't really count. Um,
• 8:11
  so this is, like, I, I always love talking to people that have-- Like, we, we were talking to, um, uh, Melissa, um, at, at AutoNation and, like, her journey through just the multiple layers of digital in, in just-- not even in auto, but in just, like, the way that the world approaches digital, and you've seen a similar journey being tied to it then, you know, so long in your career.
• 8:40
  Mm-hmm. Um, what-- Like, as, as we're turning the corner right now and, and there's still, I feel like, there's this desire to understand, desire to dig into digital- Right...
• 8:53
  where I feel like a-as an industry or even as the world, we still don't fully understand exactly, like, what we're doing, why we're doing it, when we're doing it.
• 9:02
  What's the, like, new turn that you're feeling and sensing as you're, like, looking across it? 'Cause you, you deal with more than just the auto industry at this point. Yeah. Yeah, we, we do.
• 9:14
  Uh, we have some non-automotive, uh, clients. Um, but I think, you know, it, it, it is truly, I know it's cliche, but it, it is really about first-party data, uh, and, and really leaning in on that.
• 9:26
  Um, and that's, you know, what the panel was about, uh, with, at ASOTU Con with Nathan and, you know, and how he really leaned in on, on first-party data and being able to not only organize the first-party data but also activate it.
• 9:41
  And I think the unique twist that he put on it was, is he activated it programmatically.
• 9:47
  Uh, and so in be-being able to target these people from, from a cookieless perspective, um, but not, not only being able to target them, but e- but also being able to measure it back. Uh, and so I think- All right.
• 9:58
  All right. All right. We gotta do a thing 'cause- [laughs]... 'cause you just said a lot of words that sound super smart and, and we follow most of them, but let's track back. Let's go first. First-party data.
• 10:08
  Give us just, like, the one, one or two quick one-liner on what first-party data means in automotive.
• 10:16
  It's, it's all, all your data, all the data that you collect, whether it's, you know, CRM, DMS, website data, uh, and even other first-party data that n-not a lot of people think about.
• 10:28
  It's like, it's the first-party marketing data. So all of the click trail data, uh, that you generate as well. Um, so that's all, all, all your data that you own. All right. Next word, programmatic. Programmatic.
• 10:43
  Uh, so that's being able to buy, uh, media in real-time bidding platforms. Uh, so, like, one example would be, like, the Trade Desk.
• 10:52
  Uh, and so the Trade Desk, you can buy CTV, you can buy video, you can buy display, you can buy programmatic audio. Uh, and so you're, you're bidding on all of those pieces of inventory. All right. Last one.
• 11:05
  [laughs] Cookieless future. Yeah.
• 11:07
  Because the-- Uh, okay, but explain this one a little bit more because I think especially as someone who's measuring this stuff and looking at data all the time, it can kind of become like, okay, cookieless future, don't-- It's, it's not that scary, but also it is scary.
• 11:20
  And there was a lot of... I feel like when Google first kinda came out and was like, "We're getting r-" you know, Safari came out, "We're getting rid of cookies"- Yeah... like a year and a half ago.
• 11:27
  Everyone was up in arms, and everyone was talking about it. Yeah. And then it's kinda gone by the wayside, but it's still a big issue. Talk about, like, what does that mean for...
• 11:37
  Maybe g-give us, like, the perspective of the dealer and the consumer, actually, 'cause I think both sides are, are interesting. Yeah, yeah.
• 11:44
  Yeah, so I think from a dealer perspective, um, it's, you know, um, the, the easiest thing to kind of put your arms around is, like, the notion of, of retargeting.
• 11:53
  Uh, so website retargeting, arguably one of the best end market audiences a dealer has access to.
• 11:58
  Um, and so what happens is, is when cookies, you know, are blocked, like on Safari, you can't retarget a Safari user, period.
• 12:08
  And you think about your most important consumer, and a lot of them are using iOS devices and, and they use a default Safari browser. So- Mm-hmmYou can't, you can't reach those people.
• 12:18
  And so when you think about the statistics of what 3 to 4% of people might fill out a lead or, or do a phone call, so that's 97% of your traffic that it goes out the window.
• 12:28
  You've, you've potentially lost them forever, uh, that you can't, uh, retarget them.
• 12:33
  So, um, so, so that's super important and, you know, from a pragmatic perspective, uh, leaning in on, you know, different types of solutions that enable you to overcome some of those cookie blocking, um, uh, things that, that Apple is doing.
• 12:48
  But then when, when Chrome comes along, um, then you're not gonna be able to retarget anyone, uh, t- using, you know, s- using third party cookies. Um, so it's, it's a really big deal.
• 13:00
  Um, and I, I don't think enough people are, um, focused on it. They're just kind of burying their head in the sand. Hmm. Yeah. What does that mean for a consumer? 'Cause it's always like that's what we want, right?
• 13:12
  Right. As, as an advertiser. Right. What does that mean for, as a consumer? Yeah. I think it, you know, it's gonna definitely, um,
• 13:22
  impact personalization, uh, because, you know, you can't, you can't personalize your creative now, uh, once cookies go away, if you think about it.
• 13:31
  'Cause you have to have that third party cookie bridge to be able to reach those people in different channels. Um- And I think at, at face value, consumers would, like kind of knee-jerk reaction say, "Yeah.
• 13:43
  I don't want anybody tracking me. I don't want companies knowing any of this information," without fully understanding what that information... Granted, people leverage information in all types of ways.
• 13:53
  But from a marketing- Right...
• 13:53
  standpoint, the reason they have a better experience while browsing, while seeing advertising is because it's relevant, because the creative is right, because the products are those that, of which they're interested in.
• 14:06
  Right. And so I, I think that, like, there is this level of education even about what that means, because it's easy to get up in arms about, like, tracking and cookies and privacy. Um, but- Mm-hmm...
• 14:16
  on the other side, the marketers are saying, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." You know? Right. I think, I, I really think Elon Musk said it best. Like,
• 14:25
  when advertising is relevant and well done, it's actually content. Yeah. I totally- Yeah... agree with that.
• 14:34
  And how many times have you been on, like, shopping for something and you're like, "What was the name of that product?" Ugh. It's like, "I wi- I wish they would retarget me." [laughs] All the time. Period of time. Yeah.
• 14:43
  Literally. Yeah, please. Yeah. I know it'll come back around. No, no, they shut- No... the spend off. It's over. [laughs] Right? Dang it. Our, our head writer- So right...
• 14:51
  Chris Reeves, he just made a post on LinkedIn, I think it was today, maybe yesterday, and it said, "Dear YouTube, my handrail is officially hung in my new house. Please stop showing me how to hang it."
• 15:02
  [laughs] You know what I mean? [laughs] Yeah. That's amazing. Oh, man. So, so then how do we... So okay, we've got all of, like, all of those are the facts.
• 15:14
  That's what we're dealing with as an industry, whether people like it or not.
• 15:18
  But how do we translate that to something that's real, that's actually actionable in the store to create, like, not just create demand, but assume the demand that's already there?
• 15:32
  What are things that people can actually be doing right now to make sure that they're solving for that, especially as, like, iOS 17 has totally changed the game, and then we're gonna see more updates with Chrome and more updates with iOS.
• 15:43
  What are people doing right now? Yeah. I, I think it's, you know, leveraging different platforms that are out there that will enrich your first party data with different cookieless identifiers.
• 15:58
  Um, and so ba- you know, making sure, um, like two of the identifiers that we use with our clients are RampID, uh, which is LiveRamp's, uh, identifier, uh, and then The Trade Desk has UID 2.0.
• 16:13
  Uh, and so, so when you onboard your first party data, making sure that you're also enriching it with other types of identifiers, um, so that you can reach these people in environments where, uh, cookies are no longer supported.
• 16:28
  And so not to, I mean, just to nerd out for a second, like in the, in what they call in the programmatic bid stream, basically, uh, it is, it is, it is where there are different types of identifiers that are cookieless that you can target against.
• 16:43
  Uh, and so, so that's what happens when, when you're bidding on, uh, a piece of inventory.
• 16:49
  You're basically sending, uh, an identity envelope of identifiers, whether it's a hashed email, whether it's an IP address or a UID 2.0 or a RampID.
• 16:59
  So making sure that you're partnering different, different types of providers that can do that for you is critical.
• 17:06
  Where's the biggest information gap right now when it comes to educating dealers, marketing managers about the change that's coming, what they need to do now, and what they don't need to do now, I think is also a thing, 'cause it's, there's a lot of sky is falling rhetoric.
• 17:21
  What would you say- Yeah... like here's what you need to pay attention to now, here's what you need to be aware of, but you don't have to do anything right now? Right.
• 17:29
  I would say the, the first thing is identify where all your data sources are. So make sure you've got... You can easily download all those, all those different, uh, data sources. Again- Let me stop you right there.
• 17:42
  In, in your experience- Yeah... how many, how many dealers understand all of their data sources, like would know how to do that? Oh, they'd have to make several phone calls to be able to, to, to get that done. Right.
• 17:56
  Yeah. And so the... You feel like there's, there's a big, I mean, there's obviously a good bit of work. Yes. Do you think most dealers would even know who to call? Uh, probably not. Okay. I just know. [laughs] Yeah.
• 18:09
  [laughs] Yeah. I was like, I'll say it. Right. So got it. [laughs] Yeah. Got it. First- Yeah... identify your data sources and make sure that you have access and free-flowing, you know, ownership of those.Yep. Okay.
• 18:20
  And then, and then the next thing I think is d- you know, develop a segmentation strategy. How do you wanna segment your data?
• 18:27
  Uh, so like when you, when you export it, make sure you're exporting the fields, uh, that you want to be able to, uh, to segment on, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
• 18:37
  So, like, you know, things, things like, you know, the day that they last serviced, you know, the day that they obviously purchased, the lease expiration, all that kind of stuff.
• 18:45
  And so just be thinking about how you want to, uh, to segment your data. Yeah. Uh, when I think about segment, I, I also think about message. Like- Right... who do you wanna talk to and what do you wanna say? Right.
• 18:57
  And that's gonna create the segment, right? Like- Right... if you have a type of people that are potentially in your database and a message that you need to get to them, that's how you're gonna need to segment.
• 19:08
  That's the data that you need to pull, pull out or, uh- Right... you know, grab out of those data sources in order to create those segments.
• 19:15
  And so it's like, uh, like my- our joint good friend, uh, Ben Hadley, always, he always says like, "Begin with the press release in mind is the Amazon strategy," right? Yeah.
• 19:24
  What do you want, what do you want the message to say that you can track back to that so that when you're extracting the data and putting it in a repository, then you can action off that data? Yeah, yeah. Yep. Totally.
• 19:36
  Mm-hmm. S- it's like, it's, it sounds so easy- [laughs]... but it is very difficult. Yeah. 'Cause, I mean, you guys have put in what?
• 19:45
  Eight, seven, eight, nine years or something like that into just being able to- Yes... to grab all that data and put it into one place, right? Yeah, yeah. Eight- And there's still struggles. Oh, yeah.
• 19:55
  Eight, eight plus years now. Yeah. And, and what are... Like, 'cause you're, you're pulling in, Clairvoy, like is pulling in many more data sources than even maybe a dealer might have access to- Yeah...
• 20:06
  at this point- Yeah, so like-... to, to be able to- Yeah, so-... find out what's going on... yeah, so like our, our tracking code is on every major North American automotive marketplace.
• 20:14
  So we are tracking like 130 million shopper sessions every single month, generating 800 million page views.
• 20:23
  So we're like, we're, we're literally adding a billion rows of, of data to our data warehouse every single month. Okay. Just a couple, two tree. [laughs] That sounds- That's unbelievable... huge. Yeah.
• 20:34
  That's unbelievable. So what are you excited about next? What, what are you g- uh, like what are you all excited about leveraging or getting into next with all of that data at hand?
• 20:45
  You know, I think, uh, just different, uh, partnership opportunities. Data collaboration partnership opportunities I think are gonna be huge.
• 20:52
  You know, things like, and we've talked about this in the past, where we've got a couple tests where we can identify when, uh, a customer of, of one of our clients is back in market shopping on a marketplace.
• 21:04
  And so this customer maybe, maybe bought three, four years ago and suddenly is back shopping on a marketplace. Imagine being able to now programmatically serve them an ad. And we're doing that today. Whoa.
• 21:16
  We're doing that today, and we're, and we're tracing it all the way back through the entire, uh, consumer purchase journey.
• 21:21
  So it's those, that, those, that's probably the biggest thing where I'm super excited, uh, because I think it really enables a dealer to get more out of their first party data. Yeah.
• 21:30
  Um- Well, because retention is everything right now. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah, yeah. Well, Steve, you've given us like, everybody on the pod, everyone listening is like, pause, write that down.
• 21:43
  [laughs] Pause, write that down. Pause, write that down. There's been a lot, uh, of rich stuff. I'm so glad you are a part of the industry because you give us deep, vast knowledge every single time we hang out.
• 21:52
  Um, thanks for being a part of ASOTU CON and to be a part of- Yeah... uh, the ASOTU world. And beha- on behalf of myself and Paul and Michael, who couldn't be here 'cause you know he's got jings. Yeah.
• 22:02
  Uh, uh, appreciate you being here on Automotive Reps. Yeah, yeah. Uh, love you guys. Appreciate you guys.
• 22:07
  And, uh, I think also the cool story about how ASOTU CON got started was pretty awesome as well, with the whole Jim McKelvey connection. Yeah. Remember that? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes. For sure. Yeah. All the way back.
• 22:18
  Oh, that's right. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, we can't end the pod. We can't end the pod here. Everybody, this is the PS we forgot. Okay. Let- Paul, you gotta tell the story...
• 22:27
  I, I'm gonna start the story, and this will probably be the one- Okay... that gets clipped out of the podcast and put first. [laughs] Yeah. Just throw this on the front bumper. I'm so glad you just brought that up.
• 22:37
  Golly- Yeah... what were we doing, Steve? I don't know. Thank you for saving us. Well, I mean, ask the things that I didn't know. [laughs] Right, right. This is the story that most people didn't know.
• 22:45
  Okay, let's, let's talk about this for a second. So Kyle is still working at a dealership, and he was asked to speak at Digital Dealer in Tampa in 2021. 2020? '21. '21. 2021. '21, yeah. Yeah.
• 22:59
  So I show up to hear my boy Kyle speak for the first time. Some guy sits next to me and we're just chatting, and he's like, "Yeah, yeah, we're talking about business and startup life and all that stuff."
• 23:09
  And he's like, "I read this great book," and he's like, "It's called 'The Innovation Stack.'" I was like, "Really?" I, I wrote it down. I ordered it on the spot 'cause I was like, okay, this- Yes...
• 23:19
  it's credible reference, right? Or re- recommendation, and I love books, so buy the book. We sit there, we watch Kyle light up the room. It was amazing.
• 23:27
  After that, obviously, Kyle and I started, you know, we started a small consultancy together and then ASOTU just like kinda kept spinning up.
• 23:34
  And then ASOTU CON comes around, and, uh, read the book, "Innovation Stack," flipped it to Kyle. Kyle reads it. We're like, "This is exactly what we're trying to do." Like Jim McKelvey, founder- Yeah...
• 23:43
  of Square, and talked about Southwest Airlines and Bank of America. Mm-hmm.
• 23:46
  They took a small thing and realized there were people just outside the fringe that wanted to be involved, but they had no way to do it, like credit card processing. Yeah.
• 23:54
  So we're like, "That's what we're doing with ASOTU." We're taking like the people on, just on the next level up to bringing them a step in.
• 24:00
  We get Jim McKelvey to speak at ASOTU CON 2022, and I was like, man, I can't remember for the life of me who recommended that book.
• 24:09
  Kyle's looking at his pictures from the day, and then you are walking into ASOTU CON- Yeah... and we were talking about it, and you're like, "That was me." And I was like, "Ah!" [laughs]So good. So- So good...
• 24:22
  inadvertently- So- Steve actually is the reason- So many people have you to thank for what ASOTU is today. [laughs] And, and the fact that we, like literally, you're the reason Jim McKelvey was at ASOTU CON 2022, period.
• 24:33
  End of story. [laughs] Actually, I have the- That's funny... you can probably see it in the back. It's right there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. There it is.
• 24:39
  That's the copy of the book that, that's the exact copy I bought when you recommended to me. It was at my house when I got home. It's right here. There's, there you go. That's awesome. I'm so glad you brought that.
• 24:46
  Hey, if you haven't read that book, people should read that book. Oh, heck yeah. And thank you, Steve, so much- Yeah... for all that. Yeah. That's a great story. [upbeat music] It is a great story. Well, till next time.
• 24:56
  Yeah. For great stories at the beginning and the end of pods. Yes. [laughs] Thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs. Yep. Thanks, guys. [upbeat music] I'm so glad he brought the story up at the end of the show. Yes.
• 25:11
  Because we, we, we met for the first time outside... Uh, was it the first time? Outside of ASOTU CON, the first one, 2022. He was like, "I was the one [laughs] that gave you Innovation Stack." So good.
• 25:26
  And we had Jim McKelvey speak at that event, and so he got to meet Jim McKelvey as a result of him recommending the book to me, you know, two years prior. It's just, he's that guy.
• 25:37
  I'm so glad he's in the middle of that story. I'm so glad it's him. [laughs] You know what's- The Auto Collabs universe is starting to, like, we're, we're starting to find common stars in this solar system- Yeah...
• 25:47
  that are tying this whole thing together. A few degrees of separation. Well, you know what's so... Okay, so tie that, because th- he's also the data guy, right? That I was talking about. And it's like,
• 25:55
  th- when you think about, like, all of the audiences and people who, people who do things like this also do things like this, it starts to, like, it gets out of the digital world.
• 26:08
  And what we're finding is, like, people that feel and experience the life in the same way and the world the same way, there's this g- almost like this pull to, like, we're all kind of gonna come find the center. Mm-hmm.
• 26:21
  And that's what, like, Innovation Stack, and the introduction of all of us, and the introduction of, of how, what ASOTU means to the industry.
• 26:29
  Like, it actually maps to how Clairvoy is thinking about data on that side, on the digital side. Because our offline, like, bodies and world actually interacts in a similar way. That it does.
• 26:45
  I love that general consumer sentiment is, "Did you know your phone's listening to you? That's how you see ads." [laughs] That, you know, "I was just talking about Harry Potter Land, and now I'm seeing ads for it."
• 26:57
  And it's like, he's sitting here going like, "Is that all you think we know about you?" [laughs] Oh. One billion lines of code. He goes, like, one billion. You say that, and I'm like, hey, I don't think...
• 27:12
  We throw around the billion dollar, we, we throw around the billion word like it's nothing these days. But I was talking to my kids once just on, just to, like, round this off in my brain, tie a bow on it.
• 27:23
  I was talking to my kids once. I'm like, "What's the difference between a million and a billion?" They're like, "Uh, I don't know." And I'm like, "A million seconds is two and a half weeks long. 84,600 seconds in a day.
• 27:36
  A, one million seconds, two and a half weeks. A billion seconds, 31 and a half years." Yeah, big difference. That's nuts. He's adding those rows- Thousand X... how much...
• 27:46
  [laughs] Yeah, your phone's listening to you, by the way. P- [laughs] BTW. Well, on that note, we're not listening to you. You're listening to us. Thank you so much for that.
• 27:56
  [laughs] On behalf of Kyle Montserre, Michael Cirillo, and myself, thank you for listening to Auto Collabs.
• 28:02
  [upbeat music] Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U dot com.
• 28:15
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 28:22
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording?
• 28:39
  Are we rolling yet? Not yet