Agenda:
Takeaways:
Agenda:
Takeaways:
welcome to this startup is being recorded. This recording is improvised fiction. Similarities between it and the real world are entirely intentional. Now enjoy the recording.
Kate:All right. Hey everybody. Um, can't believe what spring is here. It's almost may, uh, just another standup. It's going to be a good day. Uh, I guess we should do intros, um, band. Sorry, just it's such a good season for set. I mean, all the couch sales, the traffic come in in, I just, I feel so bullish about this year. Uh, I I'm Kate Blanchet, um, for anyone listening who doesn't know me yet, I'm the chief of staff. I work under John and really, you know, it's just my job to make set a better place. Make the world a better. a little emotional.
Calathea:Yeah. you seem full of late.
Kate:Anyone else
Calathea:Wow. Sorry. I almost like choked on your happiness. It's just, it's so much,
Matt:Um, well, I, I feel like I'm going to bring down the mood, so somebody else got.
Calathea:uh, Califia melanova chief creatives are here at CIT. I don't have some pontification about my value in the world. It's intrinsic.
Eric:Eric Troy Carter, uh, despite my emoji I'm middle name, I'm just feeling all right today. Um, but have some exciting new, so excited for standing and I'm chief product officer, but I'd say that already.
Matt:Right. Um, hi, I'm Matt, Matt dyads. That's also my website and I'm the CTO here at CIT. And, um, I think, uh, I'm, I'm the, the frowning face emoji, but not the like slight frown, but like the big one. Um, the
Calathea:Oh, no.
Matt:uh, I've got, I've got big news for the standard. As well. Uh, so I guess in a good news, bad news DLT, I want the bad news first get out of the way, rip the band-aid off.
Calathea:Yeah. Let's yeah, definitely.
Matt:Okay. Um, there's been a pretty big security breach in the server room. Um, still haven't figured out who got in, uh, we're checking everybody's key cards, um, physical access, physical keys. Uh, so, you know, I would love actually, any information that anyone in this room might have, um, because we have been turning up painted eggs inside of the cabinets, uh, behind the keyboards, uh, in the patch cable walls, um, mini fridge, all kinds of things that are in what is supposed to be a physically secure. Very carefully access controlled room and, uh, you know, like, uh, love celebrating holidays around the office. It's very fun. Scavenger hunt. Ha the that's a no, that's a no for me on the server room and somebody did it up in there.
Kate:W what kind of eggs?
Matt:You know, what kind of eggs, Kate, please.
Kate:I just want to know if it's the same kind of hollowed out painted eggs that I've been finding in the fridge.
Matt:Yeah, I assume so there they're just regular eggs that have been blown out and painstakingly decorated in paints, sparkles, glitter, uh, some nice ink to drawings. Uh, the occasional.
Eric:Nah, I don't know a lot. I keep saying this, but as I've said every, every day for the last week, The Easter egg hunt that Iran was digital entirely that it was only on the website and my good news for today. It was going to be that somebody finally found the last egg. And so we've distributed all the prizes and
Matt:that's great. That's
Eric:feels like, it feels like you don't believe me, that all of them are digital
Matt:No, I didn't. I know your team put a lot of work into that. And, um,
Eric:the doers.
Matt:yeah, I mean, it was, uh, they had a lot of fun with it. Believe me, there was just a lot of like giggling and glee as those things were going in. And so it's super nice. Uh, also that, you know, uh, we can give out those prices. We can pull, pull those from the app and can go back to the last build. Um, no, and I, I, they don't, they don't look anything like yours.
Kate:I know a way to resolve this, Eric. I know you've been dealing with this disbelief, but could you define digital? think maybe Matt isn't understanding what you mean by digital. That's probably the case.
Eric:I think, I think of, I think we all do, but I think especially Matt understands what, what I mean by digital there that are images on the
Matt:Yeah, they exist only in a virtual space as rendered by our website and our application that, that in, I assumed that you meant that in no way were these physical eggs that had been hollowed out and die, died, uh, painstakingly decorated, and then hidden in locations around this building, including what is supposed to be a securely locked.
Kate:Okay. And,
Calathea:solve this. Could have we broken, open one of the eggs
Matt:no, I mean, they're, they're very light. They seem hollow to me.
Calathea:okay. Can, um, can one of you provide me with an egg to open?
Matt:Yeah.
Eric:I've got
Kate:They're kind of
Matt:Oh, you've been finding them too. Yeah. Yeah. Here you go. Okay.
Calathea:Okay. I know I I'm. I honestly curious, cause we haven't found them around the creative team. Um, they don't match any of the artistic signatures of any of the creative folks. You know, I know their artwork really well. I look at it, I know their style and if I crack it. Yeah. Yep. You get a little V for vendetta trading card. This is definitely the work of Victor.
Matt:Victor. Victor's on yours.
Calathea:Now Victor's on.
Matt:Wait that Victor
Eric:Victor, Victor.
Calathea:of on all teams. I mean, he started, you know, in the very
Kate:before teams.
Calathea:uh, when we really were kind of all in on this.
Matt:but nobody's seen Victor. I mean, since before I got.
Calathea:I agree. It's, um, it's very alarming, but I mean, he, he was a big holiday guy fixture and I mean, he, as you know, his first initial, his fee and he was really interviewed for vendetta. I mean, this, this sounds like an old Victor screw around, you know,
Kate:I should have seen it leaving the creative team alone, especially targeting the areas that would make us think security, breach, something bad has happened, you know? So.
Calathea:Yeah. And, um, it would also just explain the single happy meal I found on my desk a couple of days ago.
Matt:so like kind of a calling card. Was there, is there anything about the happy meal that kind of tipped you off? That it was.
Calathea:No honestly, uh, was, was very, was very interested. I mean, it was like a happy meal with a like Mick fish filet in it, which I didn't even know they put in happy meals. So I just thought that. it was like some, I just thought originally it was like an F you to our new fish policy. And somebody was just doing that in a horrific way. Um, you know, some members of my team had been taking it hard. It's. I mean, they are vegan. They just don't like to have limitations placed on their body or life. Um, so I thought originally it was just, you know, something like that. It's a big corporation, it's a fish, that kind of stuff. But now it makes sense. I mean, you know, as you all know, we met fixture in a McDonald's parking lot and this could, this could be a side assignment he's back.
Eric:I just, uh, looked up the email address of all of the people who found the digital Easter eggs. And over 60% of them are from a V Norse fire. Aol.com that's that's gotta be him.
Calathea:It's gotta be him.
Kate:so he found the eggs and the digital hunt and placed the eggs and the physical.
Calathea:That's actually very true. I mean, Matt, didn't you say one of the reasons why you suspected Eric was because all of the eggs match, the like designed eggs at the art department had put up.
Matt:Yeah, well, I mean, you know, the, the art is like cute eight bit digital picture pixel art. And so yeah, if someone with like incredible artistic skill had taken those as inspiration and done them in. Baroque styles, a impressionist. I mean, these are,
Eric:Masterpieces.
Matt:yeah. And I guess, I guess, yeah, they look like, well, wait, how many, remind me, Eric, how many stickers were in the app to find? Okay, well, my team has. Two dozen out of the server room in the last few days, uh, Kate, you said you've been finding them in the break room and other places. How, how many have you found so far?
Eric:Yeah. Our teams come up with like, I think 18 or 19. So I don't know about 52.
Matt:have a lot of eggs too.
Calathea:Yeah, that seems like a lot of eggs to find, but it does make sense. I mean, with the artistic, I mean, we all know that Victor was a, uh, into art forgery before he found us that's like, and actually came really into handy because he was able to connect us, you know, with a lot of his former clients became some of our first investors and said, okay,
Matt:What do you think he wants?
Calathea:I don't know. I mean, you know, I usually am pretty good at speaking Victor, so to speak, but, um, you know, he, he likes to play games and things like that, but, you know, usually comes out of the shadows a lot sooner than this. I've always left notes and that McDonald's parking lot, making it very clear if you wanted to come back. Like we would, I mean, we have a lot of questions for him, but like we would welcome him back. So
Matt:I mean, I have questions, like how did he get into the room? Like we've, we've revamped the entire access control system. None of those locks should be the same. Uh, and if he badged in with somebody's badge, those logs have been erased.
Kate:we have to find the
Matt:is he's he's good. Yeah.
Calathea:Yeah. I mean, as, as, I well know, I thought I was great, but even I activated the bees.
Eric:Right. None of the bees were out.
Matt:No, none of the mechanisms in there were tripped. Also, just to be clear, we did not reload the bees after they went off on UK. Califia no, we went, we went with a different system. Uh, so it won't be it. If you decide to come in again, it won't be business.
Calathea:That's good to know. I mean, I'm tempted to try, you know, just to try to figure out how Victor could have gotten in, but I must admit his skills were always more impressive than mine in that field. And this is another example of that.
Eric:we could put another egg up on the site. See if he comes back.
Matt:Oh,
Kate:then wouldn't that create one more egg in our office? We have two. And
Eric:exactly You'd have to, he'd have to, he'd have to deliver it.
Kate:so we w we could try to catch.
Matt:Hmm. All right, hang on. Let let's pull up the app. Uh, Eric, I'm trying to remember, um, I want to say 24, the two dozen that were found in the server room that matches the same number and type is that right of the ones that we had in the settings pages of the. Yeah. Oh, this is,
Kate:He considers your tech team. The settings of our company
Matt:Yeah.
Eric:Hmm.
Matt:Okay. And then, oh, uh, I don't know. Would it be, I mean, kind of operate behind the scenes
Eric:Important, but not.
Kate:how many eggs were on the home?
Eric:Uh, let's see 16.
Kate:That's the number I found in John's office.
Matt:okay.
Eric:Okay.
Matt:let's see. I remember we had a bunch behind the temporary word, old game. Uh, Yeah. Wait, Kate, remind me how many you found in the break room?
Kate:18, no 14, 14,
Matt:Well, yeah. Okay. Sorry. I'm having to solve the, uh,
Kate:That is where I do work.
Matt:Uh, yeah. 14. Okay. So, so we just need to put a new Easter egg in the. Somewhere that corresponds to a place. We want Victor to put an egg here.
Calathea:What's the easiest place to stake out.
Matt:Yeah. Yeah. Set up a watch, set up some live cameras.
Kate:yeah. And one of those, um, one of those sorts of. Metal baskets that falls when someone stands under it and catches them.
Eric:the mousetrap.
Kate:Yeah, but for humans,
Matt:Yeah, man trap.
Eric:Yeah,
Matt:Yeah. We looked at a
Calathea:Rube Goldberg.
Kate:we do a Google Burke set up at, throughout the office so that
Matt:you know, they, they sell simple ones.
Kate:well, but those are
Calathea:It just seems, it just seems very strange that Victor shows up just as we got all of our, we watched the severe surveillance equipment out of here.
Matt:Yeah. I mean, I hate, I hate to say it, but like, I, I kind of wish we had access to that. Like we could just roll back the tape and,
Calathea:Right.
Matt:and see what he was doing.
Calathea:yeah.
Kate:Well,
Calathea:strange.
Matt:Well, maybe.
Kate:this will be.
Matt:You know, I, I, I feel like, um, I'm responding from emotion here. I felt like, you know, it's my job to keep things secure. That security had been violated. I was feeling like a failure. Uh, and so I wanted to know like, is Victor doing this on purpose as he is? Is this an attack? But maybe I'm thinking about this too emotionally. Maybe Victor doesn't want anything. So before we go trapping him, is there anything we really want from.
Calathea:I mean, I think there's some information that I don't know you originally wanted from fixture. We've been able to overcome some of his,
Matt:yeah, I mean, we're working well now I feel like, you know, it's, it was Richard that I was more interested in because he had his own bookkeeping and it turns out we painted over all of that. And,
Kate:Great.
Matt:uh, I, you know, I don't know. I feel like things are working. Okay. Maybe this is me coming from a place of emotion, thinking about somebody who came before me and
Kate:Um,
Matt:their, their work better than I could. And the thought of them coming back is now something I'm pushing against.
Calathea:No. I mean, it, it, it reminds me of this time I was in Tibet and we were hiking and we're going to go hunt a snow leopard, but then we saw one and just the majesty of it. And we realized that it was better just to let it go. And I just feel like maybe for so long, I've been waiting for Victor to come back, but maybe we just have to let him pass through.
Matt:I don't know, Eric, it seems like this was, this was tipped off by, by your Easter egg scheme. Are you a Z says feeling personal you in any way or
Eric:I mean, it feels like a response, so I kind of feel obligated to continue to engage. Um,
Matt:like a conversation.
Eric:yeah. And maybe that's the, maybe that's the answer. We've put a one last egg on the contact us page.
Calathea:Oh, I left that. And maybe he'll reach out.
Kate:Yeah,
Eric:It's worth a try.
Calathea:Yeah.
Kate:let's do it.
Eric:I'll uh,
Calathea:do it.
Kate:What was that also? Your stand-up update, Eric, or did you have something.
Eric:uh, yeah, I guess, I guess it, it turned out to be, um, they found the eggs and, um, I guess a lot of prices are going to Victor somehow. Um, although there was no, there was no physical address associated with that email.
Kate:Yeah. I don't know how we're going to send him those Easter couches, but
Eric:We'll see.
Kate:yep.
Calathea:I mean, we could also, you know, do want to send him one of our golden ticket to couches or, you know,
Eric:I
Calathea:hide our message in the couch and an egg.
Kate:That's true. Yeah. And I suppose if we, uh, we could drop a couch off at one of those like FedEx centers and then put a notice about the couch in the PO box that, um, was on at least a few of those email addresses so that he would go pick it up.
Eric:I'll work with someone of your team. Okay.
Kate:Okay, great. should I go, should I do my own.
Calathea:Yeah, of course. I mean, yeah.
Kate:So as everyone knows, um, you know, Lars and David are full on wedding planning. Um, but they are actually planning a little beyond that. Um, and well, I guess this has been in the works for a little while, but I am going to be their surrogate. Um, I am pregnant and then I am actually having twins, but they only want one. So we get to choose and actually as sort of an a
Calathea:wait, whoa. A lot was happening.
Matt:There is a lot going on.
Kate:yeah. Um, so basically there there's a baby up for grabs and so no, no grabs. You should never grab babies. Um, but we. have multiple options of what we can do with them, with the baby, the second twin.
Calathea:don't you want to keep one of the children that you were growing and pushing out of your
Kate:Well,
Calathea:well.
Kate:I've always known, you know, that they were going to go to someone else who, who really had longed for a child. Um, you know, Lars Larson, Dave and I have talked about this. A good bet. So, I guess there's part of me that would be okay with, with someone else having it. But, you know, certainly I would never reject a child that chose me as his mother also. Um, the, the thing is a few of our investors have asked me this before. Um, but I have a bit of a waiting list, uh, for surrogacy and florists. And David had asked first. So I guess I'm trying to figure out if we should work this into the series, a, um, paperwork.
Calathea:no, no.
Matt:we
Calathea:what do you suggest? I know that we. Listen, it's been a hard growth time and we've engaged in, you know, uh, cutting down of special forests and, uh, violating the endangered species act. But this would be adding pretty much human trafficking. Yeah, Um,
Eric:It counts even if it's well, yeah, it counts.
Calathea:I mean, you seem very
Matt:think it counts twice. I think it counts. Even if you volunteer, I think it counts for you and for the baby,
Calathea:Yeah.
Matt:logistically, uh, series. They should be close before. Uh, yeah. So.
Kate:true.
Matt:Th that let's just defer for purely planning reasons. Let's just move past that.
Kate:I mean, it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be a paperwork. It could be a handshake deal, you know, like you get to adopt this baby.
Calathea:absolutely. That I've gone to, I am always, always willing to do whatever it takes. And Kate, you take that to it very next level, but I'm going to have to care about. Uh, putting a human life as a contingent of absolutely anything, either over the table or it's actually worse for it to be under the table. Okay.
Eric:Yeah.
Kate:Okay. Okay,
Matt:I want to, I want to pause it and I'm sorry for, cause I brought some really low, uh, kind of dark energy into this meeting and maybe that's, that's clinging a little bit. a breath. And I just want to say Kate, uh, congratulations. Like that's huge. That's huge news all around. That's big for you.
Calathea:about the maternal energy. I've been sensing it for weeks, and I am just so excited for you to bring that light into the office every day. And for you.
Kate:Thank you. And I hope you don't, I'm not going to be taking maternity leave. I don't want you all to worry about anything like that. Um, I mean, I'm not really the mother, so it wouldn't be appropriate. Um,
Calathea:But you are, your body is changing in, in amazing ways. And birth is a strenuous process on the female body. So I feel like you need to take some time to heal.
Eric:Yes.
Matt:to like, literally literally let your body heal.
Calathea:Yeah. I mean, I can refer you to a very wonderful doula that I do yoga with, who can really help you. And she actually recommends that mothers physically lock themselves in a room for 30 days afterwards to have that mental and spirit and body replenishing period.
Kate:Okay. Um, maybe I can, I can work from that room, you know, as long as we have internet, there's still a lot I can do. Um, but yeah, maybe you're right. I can't do as much couch moving or packing or warehousing.
Eric:Um,
Matt:yeah, Kate, you're not supposed to be doing that stuff anyway. That's that's all warehouse team stuff that you've delegated.
Calathea:right.
Eric:right.
Kate:Delegation. That is a goal that I'm working on. Yeah. There are other people on that team some days a week, but
Eric:a, there's a waiting list.
Kate:uh, for my womb.
Eric:Yeah, I guess. Yes. And.
Kate:So it's, it's an interesting program actually, where you can get some testing done when you're in your, I guess, really anywhere between 18 to 25, um, it'll assess how fertile you are and how good of a carrier you would be for human life. Um, and I was in the top 5%, uh, so like I just excellent genetics for our creating human life. And so, I mean, imagine. If you had like a dozen kidneys in your body, would you not want to donate those to people who need a kidneys? Like that's that's. I think the gift that my body has given me,
Matt:I mean, I guess if you put it that, but hang on. What program was this like through your university or a church or.
Kate:um, No. Yeah, no, it's through the, uh, the holistic medical center of, um, the Northeast.
Matt:I've never, yeah, just, I'm sorry. I've never, I've
Kate:I mean, they're not accredited by any specific institution, but they have, have built up a lot of their own institutional knowledge over the couple of years they've been around. Um, but anyway, yeah, it was just, I got on their wires and David were talking to me. Yeah. There hope for having children one day during lunch, I mentioned it, you know, they went on there, got on the wait list. And like, it's kind of one of these things where like, once someone gets on your wait list, other people start like eyeing you and your, uh, all that DNA and genetic information on there. And then they sign up.
Matt:wow.
Calathea:Kate. I have to say that's, um, a plus marketing. I CRE I have a lot of questions about this, but it is your body and your choice. Um, choose better for the baby.
Matt:yeah, I don't think just in, certainly not in this meeting, but I think in this cohort, um, we should not be deciding the disposition of.
Eric:Yes.
Matt:Extra child, um, bonus baby.
Kate:I guess I, yeah, I'm just,
Matt:Yeah.
Kate:mine? That's the real question. David and contributed to this child. They just don't want a second. Um,
Matt:I mean, the law is pretty clear that you are the biological mother.
Kate:Hmm.
Matt:it pretty much every Jersey.
Eric:yeah.
Calathea:this is a big choice. Was this not a discussion that you had before pregnancy?
Kate:I mean, we expected there to be one and they would take it, you know, when you're a surrogate. You're kind of a vessel. You're not so much a I just thought of myself as a, as a human vessel, you know, like a train or plane,
Calathea:Kate. I just want to wrap you up in a Cuban papoose and just hold you for a second. Um,
Kate:sad that you're cross the table. Yeah.
Calathea:yeah.
Kate:uh, we can talk about this more. I understand this is a big decision for all of us and we
Matt:it's not actually.
Calathea:our decision.
Eric:not involved.
Calathea:Yeah. Um,
Kate:just off your own. Leave me.
Matt:I, I, I hate to close the door like this. Uh, Kate, I, I care about you very much. I want good things for you. I think I want better things for you than you do. Um, but I have to recuse myself from this. This is not something that in the context of this company, that we can really talk.
Calathea:Yeah, I
Matt:no,
Calathea:know. We've, we've covered this Kate and we've also talked about boundaries. Um, so Kathy, on this side of the wall is going to say, we don't want anything to do with that baby and Kathy, on this side of the wall as your, you know, not friend friendly. Persona in your life. A maternal figure is going to say, we should have a serious talk about this baby and figure out a good place that everybody feels comfortable with, but that is your decision and should not be anything we talk about here.
Kate:okay. Um, what was the, what was your standup
Calathea:Yeah, of course. Yeah. I can, uh, wrap it up. Wow. It's been a really emotional day. Uh, just, just amazing. So I guess it, it, you know, um, we have a storefront in the metaverse,
Eric:Oh,
Kate:So we sell couches
Calathea:uh, virtual couches. Yes. So, um,
Kate:buy virtual. You mean?
Eric:digital.
Matt:digital.
Calathea:digital.
Matt:They have no
Kate:same definition.
Matt:In the physical world? No, no physical representation.
Calathea:We have no physical representation though. We have the option to add that if we would like it.
Matt:yeah, it's pretty cool. I'm really glad to see the south by Southwest assets not go to waste.
Calathea:Yeah.
Matt:cause yeah, there were, there was a lot of work doing all of that couch, just situation, um, is who is renting. These couches buying the couches. What is, what did we settle on for these virtual couches in the metaverse?
Calathea:Yeah. So actually we are selling it for more than couches are in the real life because, uh, metaverse real estate is at a premium. We had to pay a lot for our land in the metaverse and it seems like people really want premium couches. So, you know, we're really focusing on with our couch building. Couches that don't exist in, can exist in the world. So we just sold our first couch yacht, uh, for a hundred thousand dollars. And, um,
Kate:Oh, real dollars.
Calathea:yeah, I been Crip
Matt:I, yeah, it's virtual currency. That, that we then have to do several trades and, uh, find a lot of paperwork to turn into.
Calathea:Exactly. So, I mean, between the several trays that we have to make between various crypto and real currencies, it actually turns out to be about 50,000 in like U S currency, which is still a pretty good for a couch, you know? Um, I would say we probably can only do one of those. We made a pretty big PR campaign about'em. Um, and honestly that's the only couch we've sold. So, um,
Matt:It's I, you know, don't, don't feel bad about that. Califia, um, metaverse stuff it's really, it's really tough market. And you know, we're basically, we're competing against huge artists, right? With like millions of followers, people who are like super well known, who've worked to auction their art at Sotheby's. Uh, so the fact that we sold one like that, That's great. Yeah.
Calathea:Yeah. I mean, I do think like you're right, it is a space in which artists could Excel at this. So given that our team is a pretty creative team, we look forward to trying to, you know, pitch what we can in there and then maybe make some money, you know, um, At least pay for our rent on our land. I mean, metaverse real estate is just getting crazy these days.
Eric:Yeah.
Kate:is it also illegal to sell babies in the middle?
Calathea:Oh, almost a hundred percent. Yeah. I think that that's just Kate, probably the rule of the universe.
Matt:Ultimately selling, selling things in the metaverse, uh, follows the same laws as selling them anywhere else. It's just a question of how well they're being enforced.
Kate:That's important, but.
Matt:it be okay?
Kate:Couch yacht. Yay.
Matt:Yeah.
Calathea:Yeah.
Matt:Thanks.
Calathea:And congratulations, Kate really? I mean, I feel like we went through a lot today, you know, and, um, we should just really celebrate, celebrate you and becoming a mother.
Kate:It's not about me. I mean, it's not about all of me. It's about, it's about a few specific organs, you know, so. But thank you. I do like cupcakes.
Calathea:We can get you some cupcakes.
Kate:Great. Now actually, I can't eat cupcakes right now because, um, if I have anything that tastes like sugar, right. I get nauseous and vomit.
Eric:a couple months.
Kate:Yeah.
Calathea:Yeah.
Kate:Um, great. Any final things or should we just wrap up?
Matt:um, I'm going to set a basket up in the break room. Uh, if folks could just start dropping off the eggs that they find. I would like to figure out if there's some other message here. Uh, and I'm really hoping we turn up all 255, I guess, 256 with the new one coming
Kate:True.
Calathea:Yeah. Um, and let me know if you meet up with Victor, I mean, I'm also always happy to,
Matt:I mean, let all of us know if you, yeah. If you meet up with Victor. Yeah.
Calathea:yeah. I mean, if we need to do a Nightwatch, you know, I'm happy to sign up for a couple of shifts. Our team are all big Victor fans, so I'm sure I can get some people if we need surveillance.
Kate:Hmm. Okay. Well, great then I guess that's our business.
Ben:This meeting has ended. To subscribe to this startup is being recorded. Go to the podcast player of your choice and tap a button that likely says subscribe. More content is on Twitter at startup recorded, or shoot us an email with ideas, feedback, or your personal startup horror story. At hello@startuprecorded.com. Kate is played by Valerie Garrison. Valerie is a product manager and regularly plays with the improv troupe letters to chicken online. You can find her on Twitter at thevalgarris eric has played by Barry wright Barry is a product manager at Spotify and a co-founder of Highwire Improv. Find him by his name on LinkedIn, where he holds regular office hours or at highwireimprov.com. Matt is played by Marty Mcguire. Marty is a senior web engineer and improviser in New York city. You can find Marty's comedy code and cats on his website at M M G dot R E. Calathea is played by Robyn Stegman. Robyn is a digital campaign manager for ocean Conservancy and is a comedian mostly found at Highwire improv. You can find her on all the social medias. And she does mean all at rsteggy thank you for listening.