Julian: Hey everyone, this is Julian with Behind Company Lines. Thank you so much for joining today. We have Kenneth Landau, co-founder and CEO of Mytaverse, a leading enterprise metaverse company. Kenneth, I'm so excited to, to chat with you and not only chat about, you know, your experience as a founder and your journey into the Mytaverse, but also, um, kind of what the Mytaverse means for, for technology, for engagement, for people, uh, moving forward, as, you know, as, as kind of launched.

As a big kind of, uh, futuristic plan for how we will all connect. But it's slowly been changing and morphing into different and more, more, more diverse use cases than I think we could have ever imagined, um, a as users. So before we get into all that, tell us a little bit about, you know, yourself and, and what were you doing before you got into the Mytaverse and, um, and started this whole journey within, within the metaverse.

Kenneth: Thank you very much, Julian, for having me here today. And, uh, yes. Again, my name is Kenneth Lando. before I started my Mytaverse, I, I've been an entrepreneur most of my life. I started my career, working, consulting with McKinsey and Company and spent two years there when I quickly realized that, uh, I, my heart was in entrepreneurship and, uh, very quickly started building a business that I run for almost.

And, um, while doing that, I actually started and was a co-founder in two other startups in that same journey. Uh, and so, um, I, I feel that, uh, that all led me to what I'm doing today, which is launching another startup at an advanced stage for a startup, uh, entrepreneur. But, uh, uh, really proud of where we have gone with Miers and, uh, very happy to be here.

Julian: Yeah, and I'm so excited about kind of talking to founders who have done it multiple times, cuz I always like to ask this question is what makes a a company successful? What are like the focal points? Let's so. You know, of the strategy, and of course we'll get into the mechanics of it, but I always think it's very telling on how, uh, successful companies, how you view it or how you view the growth.

And how, how would you say you've maybe changed your viewpoint of companies and what makes 'em successful maybe previously to now? .  

Kenneth: Yeah. I think that the number one factor is people. I mean, uh, yeah. It is a constant that good people surround. If you surround yourself with good people, great people, you have such a great chance to be successful in whatever you do.

and so that's what I have done every step of my career is make sure that I surround myself with people that are much better than me. And, uh, and when you do that, you have, uh, you elevate everybody in your team. People is very important. Obviously the idea is very important, but I have seen so many businesses that are just a great idea or a good idea with amazing people being successful.

And I've seen outstanding ideas with the wrong team not being successful. So I would say the number one, uh, is people and how you surround yourself. And then obviously you have to have a great concept. You have to have a concept that, uh, people want and people. Uh, and so, um, and in every step of my career, every single one of the companies that I have founded, uh, have had that constant, it's not, yeah, I'm not trying to replicate what others do.

I'm trying to do something pretty unique and something that corporations and people are like, need. And it's something that they require for their day to day, and that's, that's a constant, uh, that I have found.  

Julian: Yeah. When, when you talk about, you know, finding the right people or surrounding yourself with the right people, I think we all kind of conceptually understand the, the premise of that idea, but how do you do so mechanically?

Do you, you network, do you, do you kind of compound? What kind of, um, individuals do you mean by surrounding? When you. You know, what are the, I guess, the qualities of the people that you're seeking out and where do you find them? Um, if you were to give any, uh, you know, another maybe earlier founder advice on, um, where they can kind of surround themselves or gather the right community to help, you know, grow and compound, but also to help, um, them be successful as well.

Kenneth: That's a great question. And uh, the best way to answer that is in every single one of the companies that I have been a part of, I started by surrounding myself with advisors, with people that have been there and on that, uh, in that way, you, you are able to tap into their networks and they know exactly what you need and they, they've been there and.

So trying to do things from scratch doesn't mean that you need to reinvent the wheel. It means that you need to tap into the resources that can help you grow. And so that has been, uh, what I've done, including now at Myers and uh, uh, I have to rounded and me and my, and Heime my co-founder, we have surrounded ourselves with such quality entrepreneurs and executives and investors that it makes our life easier.

To give you an example, our COO in our. He comes recommended from one of our early investors and uh, and uh, he elevates the quality of the team. And uh, that gives you an idea of why you bring those advisors early on to help you. It's not just to get their name, it's actually to let them help you. And that's very important in the life of an entrepreneur.

Julian: Yeah. It, it's interesting you, you said that kind of, that let them help you concept, cuz I think a lot of maybe earlier. You know, think that they should have the right answer coming into a conversation, but really it's about having the right questions to kind of grab at, at, at the curiosity or even just the interest or, or the experience of the people that are around them.

Cause that's the, the value that, that you then receive. Um, when you talk about identifying a, a good concept that people need, um, how do you go through the discovery process of that? Is it going through different conversations? Some founders, you know, go through research. Some founders have a great product idea, so they go through pn, um, a PNL model and, and how do you essentially identify what is a good concept and, and how it will be useful in someone's life.

Kenneth: Yeah, I think that, I'll give you a couple of examples, which is easier to then describe. Uh, my, my earlier company, 30 years ago, I founded a company which was actually, uh, the master license of a shipping company that I purchased the rights for Latin America. So I was not reinventing the wheel.

What I did is I looked within that concept, what was actually needed by the consumers, which the market was not providing in Latin. And I developed that as a new service offering within the concept that I had. And that was the most successful service that we had for 30 years in our organization. So it's not the core business that was brought, it was identifying what the consumers need and what the consumers want.

And in this case, for example, uh, buying things in Latin America from the United. Was non-existent 30 years ago and 25 years ago when we had catalog purchases, forget about e-commerce, it was catalog purchases. So we developed a service where people would be able to buy from the United States while being in Latin America, and we'll take care of all the service.

Obviously, that evolved into e-commerce. Now, when we go to Mytaverse in the current. Me and my co-founder. I mean, when I say I surround myself with great people, I mean, Hyman Lopez, my co-founder, is one of, one of the brightest minds I've ever met in my life. Uh, so that's how you start. You, you get yourself with people that are much better than you and by doing so, we will never be able to say who came up with the idea because it was in a convers. Right after Covid hit, uh, and, uh, we were not doing metaverse, we're not going to be doing a Metaverse company. Me and some other investors invested in Jaime Lopez, uh, in his own company, which was an immersive, uh, company in the real world through projection mapping.

And when Covid hits, Jaime and I are sitting down saying, okay, COVID hit, the previous company we're running is going nowhere because there's no market for it while everybody's at home. So what do we. In less than half an hour, we came up and said, you know what? The world is going to need not just one, but need an immersive experience in a 3D environment, and we need to provide that.

Yeah. And uh, Jaime, as genius as he is, he knew how to use gaming technology for deployment. And that's what we, that's how it started. So it started with, uh, an idea of something we knew it was going to be needed in the world two years.  

Julian: Yeah, I so fascinating the metaverse and the concept and the way people can physically engage in a virtual world as well as obviously we can plug in, but , it's like the, the physical process of it, the immersiveness is gonna be where we really feel connected in that.

Before we dive a little bit deeper into Mytaverse and, and kind of the mechanics of the. I want to ask this, I, uh, selfishly, um, in terms of kind of doing business between the US and, and South Latin America and South America is how, how do you enter those conversations? What are the limitations for people who are trying to do business kind of between two countries?

Um, and then how is is the. , how? How is it different? Is it the conversations? Is it how businesses are set up and structured? Is one influencing the other? What was that experience like? Working with two countries, you know, and connecting them.  

Kenneth: Because I'm from Latin America, I understand the mentality in Latin America.

Yeah. So if you are a, a US company trying to do business in another, uh, continent or other countries, it is very important to understand the culture of that. Yeah. Uh, and the mentality of that country. And if you don't have that experience, you need to find people that have that. Uh, because the, the culture and the, and the culture shock that you can have while interacting with other markets, uh, can make it or break it for you as a, an entrepreneur or as a business person.

So that's very important. Finding local people that understand the market. And I would say that that has been probably the, the number one. Success factor that I have seen constantly, uh, when going cross border, uh, in my previous business, but also in Mytaverse. I mean, our first customer was Pepsi, Latin America.

And, uh, and so we, we in Mytaverse, and so we have, uh, because Jaime and I are both from Latin America, it was very simple. But now we're also entering Asia and we have a partner right now in Asia that understands the market. So we're not trying to do it alone because we don't necessarily understand the culture.

So we look for local people that really understand what moves people in the region, and that's how we are able to enter that market.  

Julian: Yeah, you echoed, uh, something another founder said a couple episodes ago where, you know, he was a consultant for global business and, and he said the same thing as, as it's finding the right people and resources in that environment because.

If you don't understand the culture, oh, what, what He used a really interesting example, and I, and I don't know if this resonates, but he said, you know, if you're in a car with a friend and you get into an accident, um, and somebody asks you about what happened, um, you know, one person, one culture might, you know, think about trustworthiness and honesty, discussing the situation, um, whether or not the friend was at fault and the other culture might really advocate for the friend regardless of what actually happened.

And it's that difference of the. That, people need to understand for when they're building culture and things like that, um, in business that working globally. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad that resonated with you cause I thought it was a really cool concept. Um, but describe MI first. What, what is the technology, what's the company doing and, and what's exciting about, um, what you're building right now?

Kenneth: You are pretty much aware of the excitement around the metaverse right now. Yeah. And, uh, the Metaverse is an ecosystem. The metaverse is, uh, what websites and e-commerce was 30 years ago that people did not understand how it would work. Yeah. To them not only using it, but nowadays you cannot live without the internet.

E-commerce, that's all we use as, uh, as an example. We're right now having a virtual, uh, meeting and all this is the digital world and how it has evolved from 30 years ago and 50 years ago. Yeah. The Metaverse is the next evolution. The Metaverse is going to. What websites was to companies 30 years ago. The metaverse will transform to the, to 3D immersive, and many use cases are starting to happen, but in the next five years, they will definitely evolve into what we do in the day-to-day.

Yeah. Uh, one very important aspect of it is we don't advocate, I don't believe in not being face-to-face. I don't think there's any better way to interact than when you're face to. face Yeah. But the reality is that we cannot be face-to-face all the time. Yeah. And so the metaverse is actually bringing people together.

They're making it feel they're in the same place because of the immersiveness and the experience. And that's changing how people interact. Yeah. And we're seeing it with our customers, how they're interacting and then how can, how they come back to us and say, I was there with Julian. I mean, it's not that we spoke over the phone or, or in a Google meet, we were there.

That's when you know the technology you have is actually getting, getting people to feel something and not just be there.  

Julian: Yeah. And, and what would you say? How, yeah, I guess. What is the difference between that and say a virtual call like we're doing now, how does it enhance the experience? And what do you think, in your opinion, are the benefits of having it feel like a more present interaction versus, you know, I, I think this is an active and, and definitely present conversation, like you said, there's, there's a different essence of it, you know, versus talking to, Kenneth and, and being there with Kenneth.

Well, how does it enhance the experience and in your opinion, um, you know, how does it do so? .  

Kenneth: Let me go back to the technology that we're using. To give you a more perspective. We're using the unrelenting from Epic Games and, uh, uh, it's a video game technology. So when we see youngsters, uh, nowadays playing video games, uh, when when I ask my son, what did he do last night?

Sometimes I get the answer. I was with Julian last night and I said, what do you mean you were not, you were here in your room. Well, you know, we're playing Fortnite and we were together. Yeah. On the same mission, so they feel they were there together. Uh, the fact that you can turn around 360 and look up and look down and you can see the environment makes you feel very different and transports you into that situation.

Yeah. Uh, so what happens is, since we're deploying these, as you said at the beginning, for enterprise, for B2B customers, our customers are companies bringing their stakeholders. And they, they bring them for a conference and they have 500 people in an auditorium and they bring speakers that turn on the camera.

So you see them just like you would if you go to a convention center and you're there in the auditorium, you feel you are part of that, that auditorium. And when you get bored, you just get off your chair, walk outside the auditorium with myself, and we go outside and have a chat and have a conversation face to face.

That is something that emulates, it's very close to what you do in real. Right. And so as I said before, we're not trying to substitute real life, uh, engagement, but this is the closest it will get when you're not face-to-face.  

Julian: Yeah. And, and what goes into say like, you know, you, you kind of submitted this as well, so it's a segue into it, but the dynamics of, of, you know, maybe the, the regulation and, and how you kind of, you know, get these players and what kind of technology do what I need as, as a client of yours, um, who wants to engage in this virtual world, um, and, and kind of.

You know, maybe is it hardware, is it devices, is it, you know, some type of software? What are the dynamics that, that allowed this to happen?  

Kenneth: Yeah. From day one, Heime had a vision, which is we cannot have any barriers for users to use our technology. So we basically went in a mission to do at hardware agnostic and, uh, platform agnostic.

Wow. So you can, you can enter through your laptop, any laptop, any phone, any. Um, or eventually, which we can deploy through VR glasses. We are not doing that yet because there's not enough penetration in the corporate world Yeah. With VR for them to use it. Uh, but all you need right now is really an internet connection and a browser to be able to enter Mytaverse and within a couple of minutes you'll be in this immersive world without downloads, without equipment, without anything that is special to you.

Yeah. Because we take. , the honors part of the equation, which is the hardware is all cloud based, and we work very closely with AWS so that they host all this power for you to enter into a very powerful cloud machine and have a great experience through your browser. .  

Julian: Yeah. And how do you go around, topics of, of privacy and, and information. I know it's, it's always difficult when, when kind of having users and, and information and having an experience that you cater to because you, you're almost, um, uh, accountable for that experience as well. How do you think about that aspect of it and how do you work, uh, through and work with your users?

You know, kind of keeping trust around their privacy and information and the experience overall? .  

Kenneth: Yeah, it is a very common question, especially from our customers, because our customers are all corporate customers. Yeah. And, uh, the reality is that there are different types of meta metaverse companies nowadays.

Even though we all believe, most of us believe that the metaverse will be an ecosystem where, where you can go from one platform to another platform very seamlessly. Right now that that is not the case, in our case, different to other metaverse companies like Decent Lance and Roblox. And, uh, and um, uh, sandbox.

Our metaverse is a wall garden. Metaverse specifically deployed for each customer. So they control their environment, they control their data, they control the, uh, the interactions that happen in there. So if they don't invite you to their metaverse, you cannot join. Therefore, that they are, we give them control over their environment and they have all the data available to the.

They get all the analytics about who is doing what in their environment. Yeah. And, uh, all that hosted on very secure AWS servers.  

Julian: Yeah. And, and, uh, when, when you, you know, discuss platforms communicating to one another, is that a limitation of the current technology or, uh, is there not enough, uh, motivation to, to, you know, make the connection between platforms?

Kenneth: Well, if you think about each, each company, each metaverse company is deploying their metaverse in using different technologies. You have, uh, Roblox using a different technology than Epic Games. Mm-hmm. using a different technology than, than Microsoft and this land, each one of them using a different platform means that in order to, to actually go from one to the other, there needs to be a protocol and a, and a way to integrate these tech.

So there, there needs to be the willingness, there needs to be a protocol that everybody's following in order for everyone to be able to go from one to another. Yeah. Uh, having said that, that that will and that will happen and it's just a matter of time because what we don't want is for you to go from Mytaverse and if you want to join your son playing Roblox, you have to exit Mytaverse and then join Roblox.

You should be able to teleport to Roblox and then convert yourself into a rob. Uh, avatar and stay within your own persona in there. Yeah. Uh, and so it's a matter of time for, uh, companies to start talking to each other and create these standards that all of us are following to be able to go from one to another.

Julian: Yeah. Uh, within your company, do you use your technology for, for maintaining a remote work, working culture?  

Kenneth: Absolutely. We have all our teams, uh, joining Mytaverse every single day. Uh, but it's not the only platform we use. Like, like, uh, everybody understands you can't use one platform for all your needs.

Yeah. You cannot use Microsoft Teams for everything you need. You cannot use Google Meet for all your needs. So we do a lot. I mean, we have tomorrow the all hands of the company. And of course that's a, that's a great use case, uh, to bring all our team, 48 people together in one place, uh, because you can actually have face to face interact, and we're gonna be in our.

Where we have a half an hour meeting, there are other ways to have a better half an hour meeting. Uh, but if you join Mirs right now, you'll see our teams walking around in conference rooms, uh, doing demos for customers, everything happening at the same time.  

Julian: Wow. It's so exciting to, to kind of see and, and hear about the enhanced experience.

And, you know, I used to work in a WeWork building and, and a lot of the, the beauty and benefit of it was having such a diverse interaction with different companies and people. Yeah. Um, but I, I went. A knockoff WeWork. I won't, you know, name the company to hurt my, my, uh, my hosting image. But, um, you know, it was a different experience.

It was a little bit more Barron and, um, and, and it's because people are really dispersed, um, now and, and kind of taking advantage of different areas and locations and outside of, you know, the might averse and. Creating this ecosystem that helps connect people. How else, as a founder, do you keep, you know, a, a strong and consistent, uh, culture and, and, and a, a productive working environment when it's hard to kind of, you know, manage or communicate or reinstill values?

Um, you know, with remote working team, what are some ways that your company does it? .  

Kenneth: Yeah, that's, uh, that's an interesting point because it's something that is in everybody's minds right now on how to make sure that we create a culture that people can believe in and can work together when you are not together.

Yeah. Uh, we have people in, in 15 different countries around the world, um, and, uh, that becomes , very difficult. Um, so we do a lot of, uh, I mean we do, I mean, monthly meetings for all team members to be able to share and. Uh, but we also, uh, as one initiative, uh, late last year, brought every team member into the same location for everybody to get to know each other personally, which is very, very important as I said before.

Yeah, there is nothing like having a face-to-face. Um, we have, uh, a company that is helping us, uh, get team building, uh, environment so that we, when we're. Uh, every three months we have a team building activity that is led by a professional. Even though it's remote, you don't feel you are remote. Uh, so those type of initiatives are very important for people to feel belonging and to feel that they are part of an organization that wants them Yeah.

And values them. So it's a, it's a critical component of remote work and we're working as hard as we can with our people's, uh, team to make sure everybody feels valued and, uh, taken.  

Julian: Yeah, it, it's something after, you know, doing quite a few episodes that a lot of founders say is, is, is its own function of, of running a company, which is maintaining culture and, and motivation.

Yeah. And it's challenging. Um, and you often experiment. Some things work, some things don't. Um, and it's interesting to hear the things that are working, um, for other founders to kind of take those. Um, in regards to the MI and Mytaverse in particular, tell us a little bit about the traction, how many companies are working, um, within the Mytaverse and, and using the platform.

Um, and what's exciting about this, this coming year's kind of growth and what do you expect, uh, out of this coming year?  

Kenneth: Yes. We, uh, we currently have, uh, 15 customers. We started, we actually launched the, the, uh, sales process in April of, uh, 2022. So it was a short period of. And we capture 15 customers, 10 of them are recurring customers.

Our business model is software as a service. So we, we license our platform for companies to use it regularly to use, to use it for different use cases as a showroom, as a, as a place where they can bring teams together for conferences, for exhibitions. Um, and so out of the 15 customers, 10 of them use it regularly.

Another five have done it for proof of concepts and are starting to engage. Right now, our vision for this year is to bring 30 new customer. And, uh, we are working very hard not only to bring any type of customers, we need to bring customers that not only we can add value to them, but they can add value to us as well.

Yeah. Uh, and, uh, through branding, through using the platform the right way. Yeah. Uh, and so we are working very hard with our sales team to identify companies that can really benefit from the Metaverse experience. Right. Yeah. That have the vision, uh, of where they want to be in the metaverse in the next few years and we're bringing them as customers as we  

Julian: speak.

That's, that's incredible. And, um, I've always kind of moved to this question cuz I, I'm curious to hear how, how, you know, your company, kind of the views the market and, and, and the customers and everything around what they're doing. What are some of the biggest challenges that my diverse faces today?  

Kenneth: I would say the number one challenge is the understanding of the metaverse. by people, by enterprise, by executives. Um, most of them don't understand. There are two constants that I, we have found, uh, with high level executives that we talk to. Um, the first one is that, uh, they don't really understand what the metaverse is. Yes. The second one is they know they have to be part of the metaverse.

So those are very contradictory, but they benefit us in a great way because they. They, they are very scared of not being part of the metaverse and being left behind. , uh, the, everybody's talking about what the metaverse is going to do to eCommerce, what it's going to do to conferences, what it's going to do to, uh, remote work, what it's going to do to just networking.

Yeah. And, uh, and so everybody's thinking about how can I use that platform? Is that platform really going to be the next generation of websites? And as they're having these doubts and not clearly understanding what the metaverse. That is a big challenge for us because companies are not really budgeting for the metaverse right now.

And some of them are saying, oh, that's a marketing gimmick, which is not, or that's a sales tool. It's not. It's all of the above. It's not just one thing. Yeah. It's going to be a place where you do all these things. Yeah. And so that is our biggest challenge. Uh, but what we're finding is at the same time, the most visionary executives in these companies are saying, but you know what?

I understand we need to be part of this, so how can. Engage in the metaverse and that's the bridge, the the gap that we're bridging right now, which is we're making it very easy for companies to enter the metaverse. And that's our job right now where we'll give you the keys to your Metaverse in 30 to 45 days, fully branded for your brand.

You brand your own metaverse. You make it look and feel your. And you can start engaging your people at a reasonable, uh, investment. And that's what we're doing, uh, as a strategy right now.  

Julian: Yeah. Long-term wise, if everything goes well, what's the long-term vision for Mytaverse?  

Kenneth: Long-term vision is having every single corporate, uh, corporation in, uh, in the world building their own metaverse and actually interacting with each other and saying, okay, I'm gonna go to your office.

Just teleport to your office and it's going to be different to mine, just like in real world. Yeah. So, so where we see a, a world where people can, can actually interact with each other when they're not together in a way that it's very different, uh, from my own experience and my own metaverse when I go to yours, because the feeling that the, the environment is different, but I can navigate there.

I can actually interact with. , uh, and farther than that, that the metaverse ecosystem has evolved to the point that I can go and visit my son being a plane at Roblox and go to a concert at night that I cannot attend in person, in the Metaverse without actually leaving my platform. So, so, uh, the more that we push towards, uh, evolving the technology and getting corporate America to embrace the metaverse and to.

Uh, in different ways in the metaverse, uh, the more we can obtain that, uh, that vision for the future.  

Julian: It's so exciting to see kind of the different ways the technology is improving, enhancing different experiences. And, um, if I were to submit a ticket, it would be to, you know, bring podcasting into the Mytaverse.

Um, so I don't know when you'll do that, but I'd love to be a part of the, the test run if that's on, on the horizon. Um, but I always like to ask founders, uh, working on, you know, projects and invested. And, um, if you weren't working on Mytaverse, what would you be doing?  

Kenneth: Hmm. That's a great question. I love engaging with people.

I think that's, that's the number one thing that I like is, is engaging with people. I was, I started my life as a consultant, uh, and I would say that would be what I would love, what I would enjoy in my career when I decide. Uh, I am going to retire is engaging with people and advising people using the experience that I have built to help people, uh, not make the mistakes that I have made.

Yeah. Uh, because we all, I mean, we all learn from our mistakes and, uh, the, I mean, if I can avoid people making some of those mistakes Yeah. I, I, I really feel good about that. So I would say that working with people to help them. Um, would be one, uh, one of the things that I would enjoy doing.

Julian: I, I love that. I love that. Um, I always like to ask this next question, not only for selfish research purposes, but for my audience as well, um, whether it was earlier in career or now, uh, what books or people have influenced you the most?  

Kenneth: That's a great question. I, I would go back to the person that actually w was and is my mentor, uh, in business and in life. I mean, I have kept in touch with this person for over 33 years. Um, his name is Mo Naim. He's a, uh, writer. He's a, uh, an a brilliant economi. Uh, and uh, he became a mentor while, while working in the World Bank and me finishing or doing my MBA in Washington, DC he was a director of the World Bank and we became friends through my father-in-law, which is another person that has influenced my life greatly.

Uh, and he introduced us and there was a big difference in age, but I became his friend and we would play tennis together 33 years ago, and he would give me advice. How should I take the, make the most out of my mba? Yeah. Uh, and then he was the person that influenced me to go and work for a consulting firm for a couple of years because he was the right step for my career.

Yeah. Um, and he became an early investors in two of my four startups, including Mytaverse right now. Uh, incredible. And he was very influential in getting me together with the people that actually we made the original in. Together for Myers himself, myself, and the person he introduced to me that actually introduced me to Jaime Lopez.

And I have to be very thankful. Yeah. Uh, but that's what I was telling you earlier today. I mean, surrounding yourself with the right people lets you go farther. And, uh, he has been one of the most influential people. Uh, in my professional career. Yeah. Uh, sometimes I would talk to him. Yeah. I I would not talk to him for a year, but then have a very meaningful conversation with him.

Yeah. Uh, after that. And I would say the, the other group of people that influences my life every single day. Family. Yeah. Uh, I'm a fa very family-oriented person, and from my father who passed away 23 years ago. But installed me honesty and hard work, to my father-in-law who just recently passed a few months back, who helped me understand business and, uh, life and, they influenced me in a way, and my mother as well.

Family has had a huge impact on my life, my wife, my kids. I learn so much from them every single day. You don't need to go farther than that to learn, uh, from people, including my grandson. That is, uh, 18 months and I sit down to play with them and I learn stuff from him every single day. So, for me, that's, uh, that's what I enjoy the most, but, uh, the learning is there.

So, uh, I would say people are the ones that, that have influenced me the most in my life.

Julian: I love that and it's, it's awesome cuz you know, a lot of founders kinda share a similar philosophy about learning and, and the people around them and really being a sponge of information it's not, it's not necessarily a time period that they are like that.

It's a quality of, of character and a personality type. That really allows them to grow and, and learn from people. And, and I echo a lot of the same things in sentiment, so it, it's amazing to hear it from you as well. Um, I, I am curious before we, we wrap up here, what was the piece of advice for the nba?

What, what was, uh, what did your, uh, mentor tell you that, what would be the best use of your mba?  

Kenneth: Yeah, I think that the single best, I guess advice he gave me at that time was, , enjoy and interact with people. I mean, one thing is to, to study hard and to, uh, get good grades. That's all fine and dandy.

But he said the, you're gonna get the most out of the MBA by interacting with people. So don't isolate yourself. Just talk to people. Talk to the professors, talk to the, to your peers and, and be that sponge at that time because they bring experiences that the books don't bring, that any research that you're gonna do will not bring, because they bring real life.

Yeah. And that, that was very important because sometimes we get so focused on the grades and on the next example you have and uh, and, uh, that you lose perspective on what's important. And I would say that I used that throughout my life. It's not just for that, that I used it, but throughout my life I would say that that's, uh, it was great advice.

Julian: Yeah. And, and who was better? A tennis.

Kenneth: Um, I will say, uh, if you ask him me for you, ask me, me. I mean, uh, he has been so hard in tennis. Uh, we don't, we don't dish been around the bushes on that. I mean, I I have been played sports all my life, that I have people that are very, uh, that they, they hate me for that because I grab a racket and I can play that sport.

I love that. So yeah, I will beat them every single.  

Julian: I love that. I love that. I love that. And, uh, if we're ever in the same area, I would like to, uh, not only play the tennis court, but I'm a basketball guy. Maybe. We'll, we'll be on a basketball court too. We'll see if, uh, if that works somewhere.

Absolutely. I love that. Yeah. Well, Kenneth, I always like to give my guests a chance to give us their plugs. Where can we find you? Where can we find you on LinkedIn, Twitter, where can we find Mytaverse? And, and being part of the technology? And if we're an interested customer, be a part of, of adapting Mytaverse into our organization, give us your information where your website's LinkedIn's Twitter.

Kenneth: Absolutely. My email address is kenny@mytaverse.com. Uh, and you can find me there. You can email me. We'll always respond. Our website is Mytaverse.com and you can actually inquire about a service in on the website. And on LinkedIn we're, very much following, all, links and people that come to us through LinkedIn and we're following on them, uh, and we're following up on any inquiry.

So LinkedIn. Uh, Mytaverse on LinkedIn, you'll find us very easily, but you can always, uh, tag me, uh, and I will be more than happy to follow up on any conversation that you would like to have about the Metaverse.  

Julian: Amazing. Kenneth, thank you so much for being on the show. I hope you enjoyed yourself and I'm excited to share this with the audience, get people excited about the metaverse and, and honestly, I'm excited to see where it goes and, and, um, and selfishly yes, if you ever into podcasting and wanna, wanna build an environment around that, um, I'd love to see what that looks like.

But again, thank you for being on the show. I hope you enjoyed yourself.  

Kenneth: thank you very much for having me and looking forward to meeting you in person very soon.  

Julian: Awesome.