This Startup is being Recorded

E12 - Undercover Bosses for Hire (w/ Dr. London Smith and Cameron Clark)

• Valerie Garrison • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Agenda:

  • John called this meeting an hour ago and said there were two important people to meet. They have a pitch to make the company better… somehow?

Takeaways:

  • Everyone send feedback to Kate on Mr. Mister Vooo and Frederick Lamar. She’ll add it to her positives and negatives notes and send that to John.
  • Update the “prohibited words” sheet
  • Look out for another Craigslist ad (depending on how John interprets the notes)

Our guests today were Cameron Clark as Mr. Mister Voooo and Dr. London Smith as Frederick Lamar. They have their own character-based improvised comedy called the Jock Doc Podcast that’s an absurdist take on medical education podcasts. Links at JockDocPodcast.com.

Ben:

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:

And I am recording. Um, thanks everyone for coming, uh, to this meeting. Um,

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah, happy to be here.

Kate:

Yeah, especially you too. Uh, I mean, this is your first time here with us in Metamarkets. So I guess I should let you know that we do record our meetings. Um, you know, just for the posterity. Yeah. So

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, and just to clarify, this is our first time here, but this is not our first time in this building. We we've worked with a lot of people in this area.

Matt:

no, no.

Calathea:

oh,

Kate:

That great.

Eric:

you before, but that's great.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah. I mean, you're J we've worked with your janitorial staff quite a bit, uh, the sort of caters for some of your past parties, we've

Eric:

Oh, wow.

Calathea:

Oh, wow.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I've been in this building before.

Frederick Lamar:

very familiar.

Kate:

Oh, well, I mean, I guess that makes sense how you got here so fast. Um, yeah, John, just let us know about this meeting in the last hour. Um, but he is on a lunch date and he said that there something about the sushi is really fresh right now. So he just can't make it, um, Yeah. So anyway, um, let's just really quick go around, say who's here. Uh, and then we can kick off with the agenda that maybe someone knows. So I'll start I'm Kate bandshell I'm chief of staff here at Metta market. We're a couch marketplace startup, but of course we're working to shape the future of trade. Give everyone a more comfortable seat at the table or our names kind of influx, but we're going with it. Uh,

Calathea:

I can go. I'm Kelsey and nada. Rova. Uh, I am the chief creative czar here at Metta market. Uh, soon to be dead name of this company. We all love.

Eric:

Yep. Uh, I'm Eric joy, Carter, chief products officer here at Metta market. And, uh, yeah, I'm just excited to find out what this is all about today.

Matt:

uh, right. That leaves me. I am, uh, matt.yachts. That's also my domain name and I'm the CTO here at the company soon to no longer be known as.

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. Um, on our end, uh, I, I assume you guys know that I'm Frederick Lamar and, uh, sorry. And of course, Mr. VU here is kind of, uh, I don't know.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

that's very, that's sort of a joke between us. My name is Mr Volvo,

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah, but I mean,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

teases me a little bit by calling me Mr. VU. And it's a whole thing, but

Matt:

I see. Yeah, you're a, you're a little visitor's tag is, uh, I guess it's.

Eric:

is it's supposed to have. Mr. Mr. Is, is your first name, Mr.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yes. My first name is Mr. Um, my title is in the company is Mr. We, we, we thought that was the most polite title. There's sort of a negative connotation around like CEO and all this kind of stuff. So our highest position, which is me is I'm the Mr.

Matt:

Okay.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Of the company,

Eric:

like a, like a Mister, like a Mister of water or like a Mr. I'd like the traditional honorific.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I would say traditional honor ethic, but honestly have fun with it. It can be anything you want it to be.

Frederick Lamar:

that's part of the fun of it is actually that it's so, so versatile

Kate:

fun, the fun of.

Matt:

yeah.

Kate:

Sorry, the fun of,

Matt:

I like the culture thing. Yeah. What, um, remind me what it is that y'all do again.

Eric:

Yeah.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

O we are with, we are with the agency under the cover. Where we are. Are you guys familiar with the old TV show? Undercover boss.

Eric:

Oh yeah. Yeah.

Matt:

thought, I thought you were thought you were about to say you're that, that bedding started. I would have been really shocked if John had made a meeting with y'all. Uh, okay.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, does he not like bedding? Is that, is that a thing?

Matt:

Oh, it's just, you know, like couches are kind of our deal, but we're ready to move, uh, you know, into any marketplace. And, uh, it would be, it would be an exciting time if it was time to make the jump to, to betting. But sorry, you said undercover boss.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

So we're not making material items. We're making companies better. We're making lives better. I

Frederick Lamar:

we're innovating. We're changing everything for the better, I guess this is a good way to put it.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

well, let me, let me explain. So if you remember the show undercover boss, they would take

Matt:

you make, you make the show. You're the production company for undercover boss.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, so

Calathea:

is John actually going to show up like ed be here, but we won't

Kate:

Is it a secret.

Calathea:

that why we haven't seen

Eric:

as fresh, fresh sushi,

Calathea:

He is he actually just been here the whole

Matt:

One of you isn't John, are you,

Eric:

you have to say.

Matt:

been a while since I saw

Calathea:

I know. Oh,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I haven't really checked. I mean, Frederick, are you John?

Frederick Lamar:

let me,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I don't know this person, by the way, the, I w we were called, someone said that they had seen our Craigslist ad under the personal section. And he had called us and then we had a conversation and set up a meeting.

Matt:

Oh, that, yeah, that sounds like.

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah. So is that, sorry. You all seem kind of mixed. Resigned is really the, the mood I'm getting

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Are you

Kate:

No one

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

here isn't secretly John?

Kate:

no one's resigning. Right? Is this meeting

Eric:

no, no, no, no, no, no.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

No, not that I know of.

Kate:

don't say the resign word, unless it's really a resignation. You guys can't do that to me.

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. You know what.

Matt:

I'm sorry, we've just, we've had some, you know, end of your staff turnover stuff and Kate's, Kate's been dealing with it really hard. Every, every member of the mid-market team is like family to her.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

for Frederick. Did you review the words that were not allowed to say? I'm sorry. We, you gave us such a nice list of words. We're not allowed to say. And, and it looks like Frederick just went ahead and didn't, didn't

Frederick Lamar:

of them, I just, some of them didn't make sense to me. Trundle bed was one and I don't see how that would cause any.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

why would you, why would you immediately bring it up?

Kate:

Yeah. I'm so glad John passes that list along though. Honestly, I didn't expect that from him, but

Calathea:

I am, I am too. And to keep it so up to date to include trundle bread, I mean, that

Matt:

guys, we can't listen. We got

Kate:

it's only been 14 days. Yeah.

Calathea:

Okay.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I'm disappointed in my employee here in that he clearly did read the list and then intentionally started using words from it as some sort of, we don't play games like that with our company under the covers is an honorable company. Let me, let me explain real quick. So if you remember the show undercover boss, they take a high up level employee and they make them do a lower level employee job, both to sort of find problems with their in their own company, but also to get to know. Those lower level employees and see how hard that sort of work is. It's a very, very rewarding and gratifying experience. And I think it brings everyone together and you can make a little TV show out of it. And Frederick and I were actually producers on undercover boss. Now we did have a keyhole incident and we were told to move on and that's sort of where we came up with this idea for this company in a, in a separate case.

Frederick Lamar:

And it's, and by the way, it's, it's been incredibly successful so far. We I'm actually just, I'm still dressed for my last one where I was. I was actually the residency director for a hospital. So I actually, for a program I chose, you know, I got to pick out who the sort of next doctors working in that program would be.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, let me, let me explain what your role is. Frederick cause I, yeah, we don't take, you might be thinking, oh, you come to a company and you do an undercover boss with someone high up.

Matt:

right.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

But here's the thing people high up are kind of busy. Right? They've got stuff to do. They've got emails to answer. They've got like stuff to see outside and like lunches to have. They have a lot of

Matt:

I mean, John, John's got an excuse to Dodge us, uh, for every hour of the.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

just busy. People are busy, you know, that's why they're busy. And we sort of try, try to relieve that. Pressure, but we take over the undercover boss duties. So instead of sending someone high up and they have to, you know, scrub toilets and all this stuff, we bring in Frederick here to sort of go in secretly and report back to the company as if he was an undercover boss. Now I do need to clarify for this to work. Frederick here needs to be given a very, very high and powerful position within the company. Otherwise it's not an undercover boss. It's a mole and we are not a mole spy company. You

Frederick Lamar:

that'd be, that'd be

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

that's ridiculous.

Calathea:

Yeah. So let me just, let me just make sure that I

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

boss company.

Calathea:

okay. Got it. I just want to repeat back what I've heard to just confirm that we're spiritually on the same level. Okay. So you, John hired you or is looking to hire you, um, and you are going to get an actor to. Join our company at the executive level for a short period of time to then rejoined the company masquerading as somebody at a lower position. To have insights of both positions and let us know what it was like being in both positions or to give us a cuddly, heartfelt moment that none of us are really a part of.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

So, yeah, not really to report on what anyone higher up is doing. Cause we know what they're doing. They're busy. It's really just about spying on those low-level employees really embarrassing the ones that are bad and then really like praising and being like yay to the ones who are good. Don't give them a raise or anything. You might give them a tiny bonus, but just something that like makes you look good.

Frederick Lamar:

I should clarify also. Um, uh, so I, you know, I'd be the one doing this for you. Uh, I'm not an actor. I know you that's the term you used not an actor. I'm actually an executive level employee.

Eric:

where

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

a freelance

Frederick Lamar:

Uh, free, uh, freelance

Kate:

you'd be afraid. Um, has this, has John, what exactly did your ad say that made John John reach out to you?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

It said two guys want to Hank.

Eric:

I just found the ad. It's just two guys. Want to hang. And then it's a link to Frederick's LinkedIn profile. You use worked for 77 companies all for two months.

Frederick Lamar:

decent amount of them. Once again, we're in this building. So

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

So many of them were in this building.

Kate:

I'm a little worried about our building

Calathea:

oh, wait, I'm also looking at the LinkedIn. Um, did you spend two months hanging out in a McDonald's parking?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

was part of the K whole thing. So it hanging out is a very generous way to put it Frederick. How do you want to describe what we were doing in that McDonald's parking lot for two.

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah. Well, and once again, I'd say, you know, not unlike your name, it's a very versatile terminology wheat. We were, uh, I guess we did a fair amount of vibing.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, yes. So

Frederick Lamar:

uh, I believe we were actually told this isn't my words, but what we were told by others is, uh, chillaxing. We were also chillaxing there. So, um, we were, uh, getting the vibe really was, was a lot of what we were doing. So that's what we did to prepare. And the success from that has been notable.

Matt:

yeah. Sorry guys, can we just have a sidebar, just the metal market folks for a second.

Frederick Lamar:

Oh, sure. Oh, please.

Matt:

Uh, I wasn't here when Victor was here. Did either of these guys look like Victor?

Eric:

I, I don't, I don't really know

Kate:

I don't know.

Calathea:

Yeah. I mean, Victor was like a master of disguise. He, he, he constantly

Matt:

I imagine actually, uh, Hey guys, do you, you do the sky stuff? I mean, this is probably a dumb question.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. I mean, depending on the job, uh, if there was a job where someone who looks like Frederick just wouldn't look the part, we will have to do something. I mean, you did

Frederick Lamar:

this, lab coat for instance right now.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

the lab coat for exist, but that is sort of your costs.

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, and also

Kate:

does that lab coat say party city?

Frederick Lamar:

Uh, yeah, I mean, yes. I don't know. I don't know. I didn't like check every brand name. It's a white coat though. And it D it's definitely worked for the job. No one stopped me and said, Hey, I hate that coat.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah. Why is it from party city or

Frederick Lamar:

I still chose which candidates, you know, became a practicing physicians at my last

Matt:

right. Oh, I wanted to ask about that. So, uh, high level executive decisions about the future of the staff of the hospital. That sounds like the high level job. What was your low level job?

Frederick Lamar:

uh, yeah. Oh, at that company? No, I was a janitor.

Eric:

for the hospital system. Okay. Okay.

Frederick Lamar:

There's a hospital janitor. Yeah. So I had to dispose of, uh, like sharps containers, whatever sanitize rooms, um, did all of that.

Kate:

that's

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

that during the day at night, go to your office and fire people make really sort of important decisions. Yeah.

Kate:

wait, wait. So you do both jobs, like in the same day, like

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, well. Yeah. Well, yeah, I didn't mean to hit, he's given a position of power for a reason. The undercover boss thing means nothing. It has no weight. If Frederick here doesn't really feel like a real executive.

Frederick Lamar:

I should say. You know, there is some degree of, I w especially working such a lowly job, I get very insecure. And so at some time, at some points, I do start to say, Hey, I actually need some more assurances. I need to be firing people, uh, like on a daily basis. So I do switch over, like I said, like, like he said, uh, I

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, it's not just firing, it's just power moves. It's moving people's offices for no reason, same size offices. Just swapping them around. Just things like that.

Eric:

wouldn't the janitor have to deal with that.

Frederick Lamar:

uh, janitor, janitors, clean stuff. That's what I was doing with that job. I was

Matt:

oh, sorry. I think, uh, Eric, I think he meant reassigning offices.

Eric:

oh,

Matt:

the high level. So forcing people to move their own offices. I see. It might make sense. Then in your janitor role, you would be forced to move their boxes from one office to the other.

Frederick Lamar:

Oh, you're saying what jobs did I have to do as a janitor, as a result of the power moves that I did as an exact.

Eric:

Yeah, exactly.

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. No, I, I was pretty careful about it.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. I mean, you made that one

Eric:

You're a professional.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

for example, to like give all new janitors, a$50,000 bonus, which I thought was a really cool decision, really helpful for the new janitors at the time.

Calathea:

Okay, that's a good, just a, maybe a lime. Could you talk about some of the successes you've seen, like after this process has happened? Like what is the impact on the

Frederick Lamar:

oh yeah.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

sorry. Bye. Ma you said the succession we've seen, I've seen the one where Kendall wraps and I've seen.

Matt:

no, please, please. No spoilers. I've I've

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

okay. Oh, I'm so sorry.

Frederick Lamar:

let's just, he was asked. And so it's hard not to answer whenever

Calathea:

Oh, we mean like success.

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. Um, so for example, that last job I did, um, those hospitals or that hospital system maximum capacity, they cannot handle any more patients right now. It is, uh, well

Kate:

think that's just a result of, that's just what's happening in the country. That isn't a direct result of.

Frederick Lamar:

some would say that, um, we, we, we created an increased demand in our

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah.

Frederick Lamar:

To some extent, all on sort of the cleaning, uh, policies carried out.

Eric:

I got it. I got it.

Calathea:

yeah. Okay.

Eric:

So, so well that, that, that actually brings up a question. I was going to ask, which was what's your revenue model? Are you, are you taking a cut of the increased profits? Are you, is it a flat fee? What, what, what's the structure?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I mean the, so, so the company under the covers is, is just us. So do we take a cut? Yes.

Eric:

w

Frederick Lamar:

we're providing a service. So, I

Eric:

like, like 15% agency fee. What's

Kate:

hourly rate. Yeah. What do you charge?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, uh, I would say car pull access would be really cool. Um, I don't have a car right now, so if someone could just sort of like.

Kate:

We are asking for benefits. I thought you were a contractor. I mean, you're not going to like ask for health insurance or something or

Frederick Lamar:

Well, we're a contractor. And when you see our contract, then I think it'll be pretty self-explanatory. Uh, yes.

Kate:

you just send one our way real

Eric:

Oh,

Frederick Lamar:

okay. I am kind

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

have the copy, right? We only have

Eric:

the copy.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah, you have, do have to give it back. Um, after you look at it, please, don't like crinkle Creek, literally thick. If you just

Calathea:

Okay. I, um, John actually took a picture of your one contract and attached it to this meeting invite. Um, I'm looking at a couple of things here and I have to say as somebody who is well-known for having some of the most demanding contracts in the business, um, I'm impressed, honestly.

Eric:

Oh, no.

Calathea:

Um, Yeah. I mean, um, I, I just think we would have to think pretty expansively if we were going to be able to provide you, um, a full tank with a shark at it

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. W

Calathea:

in view of both positions. So it would have to, you would have, I'm sorry. I think this understands that you would have to see. No matter which of the two positions you were playing at?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yes. And so the tank, I don't, I'm not exactly sure how the company is set up. If you guys have, uh, positions on multiple floors or if it's all on one floor, but if it's on multiple floors, yes. The tank will have to expand both floors. If not, it will have to expand the width of the office.

Frederick Lamar:

if your, if your issue is with the tank, I just have to kind of put my foot down here and say like the shark can't survive without that. So we're going to need a tank for like, if that's your problem,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Without, without the water at the shark. I mean, the shark dies and I, I can't imagine you want that on your

Kate:

I

Calathea:

again, could you provide some examples of how other companies have fulfilled this required?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

requirements are different every single time. It's just sort of like what We want at that time. Yeah.

Kate:

is this contract written in pencil?

Frederick Lamar:

Well, that part is,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah, I mean, it's like

Frederick Lamar:

crayon for some parts.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

There's going to be some magazine letters cut out for some of the parts, for sure.

Kate:

Oh my God.

Eric:

How do you guys know John? Just the Craigslist ad, just the Craigslist ad.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Two guys hanging out.

Calathea:

and beyond the words you can't say, are there, did he prep you any other way about like what he wanted you specifically to do for Arco?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

He, I mean, when we were on the phone, we talked a lot about succession first, and then after that, we always sort of explained what we do. And he said, oh, that's really cool idea. I haven't seen that show undercover boss, but that sounds cool. And then he sorta just hung up and now that's, that's why we're here.

Frederick Lamar:

pretty excited for what's going to happen here. So, um, so

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Were you asking him his thoughts on succession? I think he was saying that he thought season three wasn't as good, but I

Calathea:

want to hear

Eric:

I I'm I'm with you,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, okay.

Matt:

Oh, wait a minute. John told me he was waiting to watch season two until we could watch it together

Eric:

Uh,

Kate:

Um,

Matt:

sorry, I have to send a

Calathea:

like.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

did seem like a liar on the.

Kate:

don't say that about John he's

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

not a bad way. Some of the most powerful men in important men in history have been huge liars. I think it's a noble trait.

Kate:

Okay, well, that's another warning sign for me personally. Um,

Frederick Lamar:

which I'm sorry. I thought we've, we've been very clear and transparent here about the services that we provide.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

shark tank. We've been super trimming.

Kate:

yes. Transparency is not one of the warning signs. Um, that is, uh, one positive and the positive column that are making. I think there was a misunderstanding maybe. So John has tried several times to, uh, replace himself surreptitiously without us knowing. Um, and I think maybe he thought that your service would come in and do his job. Um,

Frederick Lamar:

to some extent. I mean, so, so we're going to finally talk about what we're actually going to do for your company. I feel like that's is that where this is

Kate:

I mean,

Calathea:

that would be just helpful to get an idea of what you to get the pitch.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, I mean, this is, you know, this is sort of a, an open discussion here. We can, we can figure out the best place to put Frederick if we want to put Frederick in the CEO's chair. And then also Frederick, do you want to do like the mail room or what's like, where do your crappiest employees.

Matt:

yeah.

Eric:

that was fast.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, well, Frederick your, can your back handle the delivery part?

Frederick Lamar:

I could maybe drive, could I drive for some of that?

Kate:

Well,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Do you have your license?

Frederick Lamar:

Well, no, I don't have my license. Uh, do I? Okay. So I can't do that one. Let's just, let's roll that one out re we'll we'll table that, um,

Eric:

what about like customer support? Yeah.

Frederick Lamar:

I don't really how about customer support manager? The one who, whenever they asked for the manager

Eric:

Well, that's, uh, I mean, here, that's like a director level role.

Matt:

yeah,

Frederick Lamar:

So, but that's below the CEO though, right?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

that's

Eric:

Yeah. But it's not. Yeah,

Kate:

that far below.

Eric:

Yeah.

Frederick Lamar:

I just, I, for one thing, I wouldn't be able to help your company improve by being on the lower levels, which I feel like if I'm the manager of these call centers or whatever, then I could keep an eye on things pretty well.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. Where, where in your company do you think you would need maybe a second set of eyes to see both problems within the company and also really cool employees that we can give a really tiny bonus to earn a ton of publicity. And free advertising for the company. Cause we'll, we'll put the we'll film it and put it all on Facebook. Everything. It's great for your social media.

Eric:

What you're distributed on Facebook. Sorry. Go ahead. Call it. Yeah.

Kate:

one of our direct competitors. I don't

Calathea:

Yeah.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah.

Matt:

might be, uh, an issue with

Frederick Lamar:

well, Hey.

Matt:

interest here. We're under negotiation with Facebook about some things that we can't

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

We also have a contract with daily motion. Do you guys mind being on daily mode?

Kate:

is that?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

like a streaming service from maybe 2005 or so that possibly still exists. That was mostly known for having

Matt:

that the

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

soft core nude videos from movies.

Matt:

as long as it's not the one that all the alt-right people went to after they get kicked off.

Eric:

Well, not most recently,

Frederick Lamar:

no, we left that one behind that's that's in the past now. So.

Eric:

so they do exist, but their homepage takes seven seconds to load.

Kate:

Still.

Calathea:

okay. Wow. Um, I'm just gonna, um, I appreciate the creativity that you guys are bringing to the role, um, or to whatever

Matt:

Creativity is an interesting one. Uh Califia your team does cranks out an awful lot of hand-drawn, uh, animation frames and concepts. Would it be possible to have him sit in the drawing?

Frederick Lamar:

Oh

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, well, unfortunately, if you know that he's undercover, that he's not really undercover.

Eric:

wait, we can't know.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Well, no y'all will know, but he needs to be in a position that's sort of separate from everyone in this chat.

Kate:

I mean, we run basically the entire company.

Matt:

the,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I mean, there's no one at any part of the company where y'all aren't hands-on with

Matt:

I mean, delivery.

Eric:

yeah, yeah. About we're back to,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

back to the delivery.

Eric:

delivery and driving.

Calathea:

I mean, how would you, how

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, maybe like a motivator.

Calathea:

Okay.

Frederick Lamar:

D delivery motivator. Okay.

Kate:

That's what a

Calathea:

feel about like relocating? I mean, cause we definitely, you know, could really use somebody to. some clarity in de Moines.

Frederick Lamar:

okay. Um,

Eric:

the shark tank really big.

Matt:

That's true.

Kate:

they could work on the mayoral campaign.

Calathea:

Yeah.

Kate:

Chelsea runs that and she

Calathea:

I mean, Chelsea is always great at reporting back, but you know, Chelsea is just doing so much right now that I just,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

You don't want to add cleaning a shark tank tour plate. I understand that.

Calathea:

Yes. I mean, I think we can all agree that the shark tank writer is very creative, but just absolutely not possible.

Matt:

I just want to clarify on this one. Are you providing the shark?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, I mean,

Frederick Lamar:

I guess we assumed that there would be a shark.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

mean, we can, I guess if that's, if y'all are just sorta cheap like that. Yeah, sure. We can, but I, I just thought this was like a nice company. I just,

Kate:

I,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I just.

Matt:

where I

Kate:

uh, we are a nice company. I could lend a mantis shrimp or to, um, you know, they're relatively violent sea creatures that live in.

Matt:

it's true.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. I mean, if that's, I don't know what sharks eat, so if that's, what if that's what you going to feed the sharks? That would be that I'm sure that'd be great.

Kate:

no, Holly and button can't be shut to a shark.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Again. I don't know what sharks eat. I haven't done any research on any of this.

Frederick Lamar:

no, we just, we know that you need a shark tank to house. Like that's, that's where they need to live. And so that's been a really big part of why we request that

Kate:

Okay.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Because we don't want it to die. I do know that much.

Frederick Lamar:

don't want no, w

Kate:

can all agree. Yeah, no dead

Calathea:

Yeah, and I, I think we, we also, John, if you, John sent you the list, he knows that animal death is one of those things that we don't talk about.

Frederick Lamar:

Which

Kate:

Yeah.

Frederick Lamar:

didn't say it, yeah. Okay. That's we were trying to tiptoe around it, but yes, obviously we do not, we don't want animal death. I'm sorry. I'm going to just say it because this long list of words that I also can't tell if I'm supposed to not say it in combination,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I'm really. Can I ask about one of these words? Like, I mean,

Eric:

Why not.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

w Y sandwich just all sandwiches. Oh, wow. The looks on y'all's faces, like maybe I shouldn't have asked.

Matt:

I'm trying to think of a way to say this, that won't get us in more trouble.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

no, you've already gotten in trouble for saying sandwich.

Matt:

Yeah. I mean,

Frederick Lamar:

How do you avoid saying truckload whenever you have all the deliveries to make and like, isn't that?

Kate:

Vans

Matt:

don't talk with. Yeah. And we don't really speak with the delivery folks.

Frederick Lamar:

Okay. Okay. I'm sorry to get on the list again. That's obviously things we're supposed to be avoiding anyway. Um,

Kate:

right.

Frederick Lamar:

so I guess all be working in, is it de Moines is. And then, um, so I'll just take over the CEO position after that,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. So how, how far so, I mean, are you, do you want to do that every other day? Maybe like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Des Moines.

Frederick Lamar:

I'll fly

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

And then you're in the CEO chair, Tuesday, Thursday, firing people, giving, giving huge bonuses to new positions in the

Frederick Lamar:

Or maybe I could stay here and do the Des Moines thing virtually. That sounds a lot easier for me.

Kate:

Maybe, maybe you should do the whole thing virtually, uh, maybe we could have you be our, like, you know, meeting operator. You could like start zoom meetings and end zoom meetings. Um, for some of our virtual employees, you know, um,

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah. I mean, I guess I, yeah. Yeah. And I guess, cause my back that would help with my back.

Kate:

could be a scribe. You could take notes that way you get.

Frederick Lamar:

know my fingers are to kind of Longkey.

Kate:

How did, how were you a janitor? If your back doesn't work in your fingers, don't work.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

He was more of a janitor motivator. Um, he was, the guy is sort of in that position of motivating the janitors and sort of, you know, who raw in the mornings and getting them going and.

Frederick Lamar:

if you have a, like a, uh, morning talk radio host position, that'd be really good.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. Does some, yeah. Does someone do like PA announcements, like in school?

Kate:

have you, have you ever worked at a startup?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Uh, start, uh,

Kate:

Well, I think we have a lot of information that we can report back to John. I mean, he has to do the signing of the contract anyway.

Eric:

take payment and dose.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yeah. D oh, sorry. We, so it's supposed to be dojo coin. It's dojo Katz, new crypto coin.

Eric:

not as bad, but still bad.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

This is, I mean, way worse for the environment, like significantly worse.

Calathea:

Why would you

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

It's

Calathea:

some, why would you choose something that would be significantly worse? Like why would that

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

cause right now the value is so low right now. It's 0 cent. And if that goes up to a 0 cents, I mean,

Calathea:

We understand how crypto works. I just don't understand why the negative environmental impact seems to be a selling point for

Frederick Lamar:

so that's not, not a selling point, but it was one of the jobs that I worked previously was at this crypto. I was a crypto startup. Yes. Okay. That, I guess that answers your question. Um, and so we were paid in that crypto and that's really the only way I know how to work the money thing, but the contract. So that's. Where we stand now is that we continually only accept, uh, that particular cryptocurrency.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

And we'll just to be, cause we, we do believe in transparency. We do financially benefit. Anytime the environment gets sort of work. We're sort of hedging, we're sort of, um, shorting the world. And so really, really like any sort of, uh, CO2 emissions, anything bad where that's that's three or 4 cents that we're, we're getting off that.

Kate:

I don't understand how that could possibly work. Um, but I sadly believe. Uh, I, well, I have a couple of things. I have a little positive, negative column going. I'll take a picture of this and this to John. Um, I guess we'll all make our internal recommendations. And then, uh, how can we get back in contact with you with our.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

We'll have another Craigslist ad up. You'll know it's us because it'll be the only one talking about two guys hanging out and then yeah, just reply to the.

Frederick Lamar:

that's yeah, that's we've that we've streamlined. We had a, I mean, it may seem a little different, but in the past we did not have this efficient of a system. It was so bad before. Uh, this is amazingly streamlined

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Before it was leaving notes in that McDonald's parking lot that we sort of were doing a ton of ketamine. And the problem is, is that when you're okay. So when you're in the keyhole, it's like you're sort of outside of your own body and sort of find notes left on the ground is really kind of difficult

Frederick Lamar:

It was scary to

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah, but that's part of the experience. That's why you're doing it is the fear.

Calathea:

This, this explains so much of where Fichter got some of those off the wall ideas. I didn't realize he was returning to the victim. Donald's park.

Kate:

Yes, that's true. We, we really shouldn't have taken ideas that were handwritten on notes like that. Um,

Matt:

Hey, you know, I, let's not speak ill of those who are no longer with the company. Uh, Victor really got me to market a long way

Kate:

That's true.

Matt:

and we're still picking up the pieces from.

Kate:

yes. So we'll keep an eye out for the Craigslist ad. Um, if you don't hear from us, feel free to take another job. Um, if you do hear from us, you'll know. I guess,

Calathea:

And hopefully we will too.

Frederick Lamar:

that's

Kate:

and hopefully we'll know to

Frederick Lamar:

Well, uh, so I guess we'll expect. I guess we'll post another ad on Craigslist, how much those costs to post those.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

guy goes through, he only.

Kate:

you use a person.

Eric:

Okay.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

yeah, my CR like my Craigslist guy,

Eric:

What's his name? What's his name?

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

uh, I don't, well, he hasn't told me his name, his name, like, I mean, his screen name is the, uh, skull man, he only takes dojo Kat coin as well. So that's kind of why we,

Eric:

Wow.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

that's why we accept it. It makes it easier to post more.

Frederick Lamar:

It's just easier. Like

Eric:

into place.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Yup.

Matt:

John, he just spoiled. He's just spoiled. Season three.

Eric:

Oh, I'm sorry. So good though.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

he spoiled that. They're rich and they're fighting. I'm so sorry. I don't mean to spoil it, who hasn't seen it, but they are, they are rich. And that you find that out in the third season.

Kate:

uh, uh, okay. Well, I think, you know, we're about at time. There's

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

want a TV? I can sell you a TV. Do you want a TV?

Kate:

I don't have dojo coin, so I,

Frederick Lamar:

Oh yeah.

Kate:

that would work.

Frederick Lamar:

Nevermind.

Calathea:

Yeah.

Kate:

I don't want a TB

Frederick Lamar:

don't know how you manage in the modern age without it, but yeah. Okay. Whatever. Yeah.

Kate:

All right. Well, it was such a interesting experience to have you both here. Thank you for showing up with minimal direction, uh, explaining to us your business. And, and these are all the words I have. Anyone else have words to explain this meeting?

Matt:

I see you guys found the mini fridge on your way in, would you like another Starbucks to go on the way?

Frederick Lamar:

I, uh, do we have enough backup? Yeah. Yeah. We'll take, I guess, um, however many weekend. Yeah, these.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

I don't like the, to go aspect. If I'm at Starbucks, I want to be able to sit down with my laptop and like maybe work on a script or something, or, you know, so if you could just set up a set up that space for us, where we

Frederick Lamar:

That'd be a lot

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

out for like five or six hours on our laptops, that'd be awesome.

Frederick Lamar:

That'd be simplifying it

Matt:

Yeah, we're not.

Kate:

no.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Okay, well then it's not Starbucks to go. It's just a drink and a fridge

Matt:

Yeah.

Calathea:

I mean, we do have, um, a little bit of leftover of our rare vegan jerky series. If you'd like some of that.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

who,

Frederick Lamar:

Yeah. Okay. So if you just kind of set up the, um, yeah, we know the vegan place down the street, kind of just set up the feel of that. Cause we do, uh,

Calathea:

There's like, there's just samples, samples there. If you'd like we have, um, jackfruit and algae,

Frederick Lamar:

so w and I'm sorry, but we're just all about the vibes. So like, if you can set up sort of the natural environment for the jackfruit, um,

Calathea:

the vibes in the jerky.

Matt:

kind of, it's kind of like a walking thing. It's really like a reconnect with nature. So

Calathea:

feel it when you eat it, the vibe is instilled.

Matt:

you'll want natural outdoor air and, uh, grass and trees.

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

okay. Well, we can take the jerky and then we'll just take our laptops. We'll just be sitting on your cars in the parking lot outside, and

Frederick Lamar:

yeah,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

we'll see you guys later and maybe we can like hang out or something and maybe like go to a movie or just, what is.

Kate:

maybe we should just end the meeting and see what happens.

Eric:

It's a good idea.

Matt:

Yeah. Cause if we were there, it wouldn't be two guys hanging out, you

Eric:

Yeah. Don't want to

Matt:

be,

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

Oh, that is an issue. We'd have to change the ads and

Frederick Lamar:

that'd be really confusing for

Mr. Mister Vooooo:

skull guy. He charges so much for editing already posted ads.

Kate:

Okay. All right. Thank you, Anna.

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. Our guests today were Cameron Clark as Mr. Mister Voooo and Dr. London Smith as Frederick Lamar, they have their own character based improvised comedy called the Jack Doc podcast. That's an absurdist take on medical education, podcasts links at Jack doc podcast.com kate is played by Valerie Garrison. Valerie is a health tech 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 Martin 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.