1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.010 Johny Fernandez: You guys so much for joining us today. The 2 00:00:02.010 --> 00:00:04.440 reason I'm smiling is because I'm sitting next to this guy 3 00:00:04.440 --> 00:00:08.430 Sean Murray. You're just a breath of fresh air. Thank you, 4 00:00:08.430 --> 00:00:10.260 Johnny. Not only need to me but to the industry 5 00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:12.240 Sean Murray: To the industry, okay, why thank you, Johnny. 6 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:15.570 Johny Fernandez: So we're gonna get to, we're gonna remind you 7 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:18.600 guys a little bit later on about how you can see us in person 8 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.420 boards. I'm going to talk about that a little later on. But 9 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:24.900 first, we're just going to talk about some housekeeping. You 10 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:28.260 know, just some topics. That will definitely do us well to 11 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:32.010 kind of bring up today. Obviously, we were not here on 12 00:00:32.010 --> 00:00:34.770 Monday because of Martin Luther King. But we're back on 13 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:37.560 Wednesday. So you know, what Wednesday usually means for me 14 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:39.870 is pretty much the weekend at this point. So that's true. 15 00:00:39.930 --> 00:00:41.340 Yeah. So it'll be great. 16 00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:43.610 Sean Murray: Yeah. Hope you hope you rest up from from the long 17 00:00:43.610 --> 00:00:46.850 week you've had. After your day off on Monday 18 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:49.160 Johny Fernandez: On Monday. Yeah. Then today, and then 19 00:00:49.190 --> 00:00:52.640 Sean Murray: He has put in a solid day and a third at this 20 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.450 point. So far 21 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:57.080 Johny Fernandez: A day and a third of work, I actually was 22 00:00:57.080 --> 00:01:00.860 working on on Monday though. Oh, you were Yeah. That's a shame. 23 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:06.230 Yeah, no. No, I was doing stuff on my computer. That counts as 24 00:01:06.230 --> 00:01:12.200 work right. No. No. Alright. So let's get straight to the topics 25 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.140 of conversation. So, Sean, we're gonna talk about FundThrough 26 00:01:15.170 --> 00:01:18.350 acquisition, now FundThrough announced their acquisition of 27 00:01:18.350 --> 00:01:22.910 the factoring division of BlueVine. So let's talk first 28 00:01:22.910 --> 00:01:25.850 things first, Sean, when you heard this did this surprise you 29 00:01:25.850 --> 00:01:26.300 at all? 30 00:01:27.170 --> 00:01:30.860 Sean Murray: It did. It shocked me. Legitimately shocked too, 31 00:01:30.860 --> 00:01:34.070 like not like fake shocked, no, like legit shot. Why? Because 32 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:38.570 FundThrough is a Canadian company. And BlueVine. In my at 33 00:01:38.570 --> 00:01:42.800 least, my understanding was was a much larger American company. 34 00:01:43.220 --> 00:01:47.240 So here I'm seeing a smaller Canadian company buying, not the 35 00:01:47.240 --> 00:01:48.470 whole company of BlueVine 36 00:01:48.510 --> 00:01:50.580 Johny Fernandez: Exactly it was just the factorign division. But 37 00:01:50.580 --> 00:01:52.710 it's something that's interesting, because when we 38 00:01:52.710 --> 00:01:55.590 spoke with them, they told us that the deal had been in the 39 00:01:55.590 --> 00:01:59.280 works for a while. Like, it's not like, it's not like this 40 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.280 happened overnight. Like it was something you know, from 41 00:02:02.460 --> 00:02:05.700 yesterday to today. But we do know that the move is 42 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:09.210 substantial, because the company has acquired their largest, it's 43 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:14.790 the compares integral product. So back to the conversation. So 44 00:02:14.790 --> 00:02:19.620 you were surprised? Do you think the you know this specific move? 45 00:02:19.980 --> 00:02:22.950 From what reading up on it definitely made it seem like, 46 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.730 you know, it's gonna benefit everyone? Because at the from 47 00:02:26.730 --> 00:02:28.710 what I got out of it, it's gonna benefit everyone. It's gonna 48 00:02:28.710 --> 00:02:30.210 benefit vine through 49 00:02:30.570 --> 00:02:34.800 Sean Murray: BlueVine. Vine. That would be a good name. Yeah. 50 00:02:35.970 --> 00:02:36.570 Vine through. 51 00:02:36.570 --> 00:02:39.030 Johny Fernandez: We're gonna vine through the benefit bloom 52 00:02:39.420 --> 00:02:43.260 fund vine fund. Remember Vine? You know, you know, 53 00:02:43.290 --> 00:02:46.230 Sean Murray: Oh I do you remember Vine. Yeah, yeah. Vine 54 00:02:46.230 --> 00:02:47.010 through, vine through. 55 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:48.540 Johny Fernandez: It's a good one. 56 00:02:48.570 --> 00:02:51.120 Sean Murray: Yeah, we'll send them that as the tip afterwards. 57 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:56.520 Johny Fernandez: Exactly. But back to the conversation. So you 58 00:02:56.520 --> 00:03:00.450 were surprised you were shocked. But to me, it kind of seems that 59 00:03:00.570 --> 00:03:03.360 this is gonna make this is gonna be beneficial for everyone. 60 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:06.900 Sean Murray: You mean like for both companies for both 61 00:03:06.900 --> 00:03:10.800 companies? Yeah, you guys. Oh, God. Do you think I have some 62 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.170 thoughts about it? No, I want to hear your thoughts about it and 63 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:17.280 why it's beneficial. Yeah. So I assume it's beneficial because 64 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.590 it's in each of their interests? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know 65 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:22.050 if there's any particular particular reason why it would 66 00:03:22.050 --> 00:03:26.670 be so significantly, you know, beneficial outside of the 67 00:03:26.700 --> 00:03:30.240 ordinary course of any type of business. But I will tell you 68 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:33.300 this. So I told you, I was shocked and surprised. Because 69 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:37.290 FundThrough smaller company in Canada, buying a sizeable 70 00:03:37.290 --> 00:03:39.660 division of a competitor of United States, it's just that 71 00:03:39.660 --> 00:03:43.620 kind of reverse transaction is so uncommon, you can tell how 72 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:47.850 excited FundThrough was both in their public announcement of the 73 00:03:47.850 --> 00:03:51.270 deal. And in the conversation that we had with them that this 74 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:55.260 was a huge major achievement for them. So why would BlueVIne do 75 00:03:55.260 --> 00:03:58.110 this? Does it mean BlueVine is distressed? You know what I 76 00:03:58.110 --> 00:04:01.860 mean? Like the question is, Why would BlueVine do that? And I 77 00:04:01.860 --> 00:04:05.160 think the the answer is obvious. If you go to even just their 78 00:04:05.160 --> 00:04:09.300 website today, they are really focused on more becoming like a 79 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:15.120 bank. Their website highlights checking, lending in billpay. 80 00:04:15.240 --> 00:04:18.750 And lending when you click on that, it it it advertises their 81 00:04:18.750 --> 00:04:22.320 line of credit products. So they kind of their core business when 82 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:25.500 they started was factory. That's where they started online 83 00:04:25.500 --> 00:04:28.620 business factory. They scale up real quick made a big go of it, 84 00:04:28.650 --> 00:04:31.530 and a lot of branding in that space, pivoted towards banking 85 00:04:31.530 --> 00:04:36.690 as as we've seen all the other online lenders do. And now that 86 00:04:36.690 --> 00:04:39.390 they've had success there, it seems like their original core 87 00:04:39.390 --> 00:04:44.400 business is more like almost not a good fit fit for what were the 88 00:04:44.400 --> 00:04:45.210 other things they had. 89 00:04:45.210 --> 00:04:47.100 Johny Fernandez: What it made it seem like to me was that they 90 00:04:47.130 --> 00:04:51.960 they wanted to pass this division along so they can focus 91 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:55.200 on their bigger picture, their bigger product and something 92 00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:58.410 that they said the C the CEO of BlueVine says our factoring 93 00:04:58.410 --> 00:05:01.800 clients are in great hands with FundThrough, so they know that 94 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:06.240 they just didn't, you know, make a move. And they're just like, 95 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.130 forget about it like it was, it seemed like it was very 96 00:05:08.130 --> 00:05:10.590 strategic. But it seemed like you said that overall big 97 00:05:10.590 --> 00:05:14.100 picture. They're now focused on other things that is not 98 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:17.550 factoring and but they still want to keep their hands on in 99 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:20.670 the pot. But they'd rather just give to someone, you know, and 100 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:22.980 work with someone else to kind of get that goal accomplished. 101 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.270 Sean Murray: It makes sense. And if, you know, if you out there 102 00:05:25.270 --> 00:05:28.300 watching had never heard of FundThrough, they were a 103 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:31.840 recognized player in the Small Business Finance market in 104 00:05:31.840 --> 00:05:35.020 Canada, I did meet with their executive several times at 105 00:05:35.020 --> 00:05:39.460 Canadian lenders events, I think I even met with one of their top 106 00:05:39.460 --> 00:05:43.030 marketing executives for like a coffee at some point. So they 107 00:05:43.030 --> 00:05:47.500 were a known and big important player in the Canadian market. 108 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:50.620 And so they didn't just come out of nowhere, per se, it's just 109 00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:53.800 that the transaction itself was surprising. It's exciting, 110 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:56.260 because I guess we'll get to hear more about what funder was 111 00:05:56.260 --> 00:05:58.420 doing now that they're operating in two countries. 112 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:01.780 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, no, and I think two things, this goes back 113 00:06:01.780 --> 00:06:04.810 to me, it made me think when I was reading about this, about 114 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:08.170 the Canadian market itself, and how things are just changing 115 00:06:08.170 --> 00:06:12.580 over the year, you know, it's, it's, they're getting back into 116 00:06:12.580 --> 00:06:16.210 the swing of things. Because they had two years where, you 117 00:06:16.210 --> 00:06:20.830 know, we really didn't know much of what was going on. But like 118 00:06:20.830 --> 00:06:23.770 we talked about in our, in our previous show, they definitely 119 00:06:23.770 --> 00:06:27.550 have this concept that, you know, it's booming, it's back, 120 00:06:27.550 --> 00:06:30.790 and they don't want to like, stop at all, and just keep 121 00:06:30.790 --> 00:06:34.630 growing in that space. The second thing is FundThrough and 122 00:06:34.630 --> 00:06:37.270 BlueVine started around the same time. Oh, I didn't even know 123 00:06:37.270 --> 00:06:40.300 that. Yeah, they started around the same time. And the CEO and 124 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:43.330 co founder of FundThrough said, we started, we started around 125 00:06:43.330 --> 00:06:46.720 the same time. They grew their business nicely. And then they 126 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.810 started to branch out into other products. And like we've talked 127 00:06:49.810 --> 00:06:53.020 about, and now, you know, they're kind of giving up the 128 00:06:53.020 --> 00:06:55.390 factoring aspect of it. But I think it's interesting, these 129 00:06:55.390 --> 00:06:58.150 guys started around the same time, they saw each other's 130 00:06:58.150 --> 00:07:00.850 growth, and they're kind of you kind of went in like slightly 131 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:04.840 different directions. So it was interesting. So yeah, I think I 132 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:11.110 think I'm, I'm not surprised it shocked you. But I'm surprised 133 00:07:11.110 --> 00:07:14.290 that you know, these type of transactions don't happen. 134 00:07:14.790 --> 00:07:18.690 Sean Murray: You are not shocked that I was shocked. 135 00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:21.540 Johny Fernandez: I am not surprised that you were shocked. 136 00:07:21.780 --> 00:07:23.640 Sean Murray: They see wait you're giving your your 137 00:07:23.640 --> 00:07:25.950 analysis. Of my of my reaction. 138 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:27.510 Johny Fernandez: I'm not surprised that you were shocked. 139 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.100 Sean Murray: So when you heard Sean was shocked, Johnny, were 140 00:07:32.100 --> 00:07:33.900 you shocked that Sean was shocked? 141 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:41.640 Johny Fernandez: Because of the simple fact that not surprised. 142 00:07:41.670 --> 00:07:44.220 Sean Murray: Okay. You were not surprised? That's probably what 143 00:07:44.220 --> 00:07:46.050 I am. We should you know, this is what we should do in the 144 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:49.380 future. Let's not comment about the deals anymore. Let's have me 145 00:07:49.380 --> 00:07:52.320 react to the deals and then we want to get your take on my 146 00:07:52.320 --> 00:07:52.980 reaction. 147 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:55.020 Johny Fernandez: I was surprised that he was not shocked. 148 00:07:55.530 --> 00:07:57.180 Sean Murray: You have to do that. You have to do like a 149 00:07:57.180 --> 00:08:00.210 double negative to that. I was not surprised that he was not 150 00:08:00.210 --> 00:08:00.630 shocked. 151 00:08:03.180 --> 00:08:05.910 Johny Fernandez: You know what I am surprised about though, I am 152 00:08:05.910 --> 00:08:11.400 surprised about this of Virginia hopping on the bandwagon of 153 00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:16.650 commercial finance APR disclosures. Yes, that's right. 154 00:08:16.680 --> 00:08:20.100 That's what I'm shocked about. Because it's coming. What I'm 155 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:23.370 starting to see we've talked about this last year, and now 156 00:08:23.400 --> 00:08:26.670 that it seems like certain states are starting to like, 157 00:08:26.670 --> 00:08:29.370 really? What's so funny? your smile. 158 00:08:29.820 --> 00:08:31.020 Sean Murray: I don't know. What's the word? 159 00:08:34.230 --> 00:08:36.270 Johny Fernandez: I'm sorry. He's just smiling at me. 160 00:08:36.630 --> 00:08:38.790 Sean Murray: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, no, but I'm 161 00:08:38.790 --> 00:08:41.790 still I still can't get over whether I want to find out. When 162 00:08:41.790 --> 00:08:44.700 I get my two cents on this. bill. I want to find out if you 163 00:08:44.700 --> 00:08:46.860 were if you're shocked. 164 00:08:46.860 --> 00:08:49.620 Johny Fernandez: That you are shocked. I'm not surprised that 165 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:56.670 you were shocked. Okay. But on a serious note, Virginia's pretty 166 00:08:56.670 --> 00:08:59.490 much gonna pick you. It's joining the bandwagon of what 167 00:08:59.490 --> 00:09:01.770 New York is doing. Yeah, we're gonna be shocked. 168 00:09:02.020 --> 00:09:06.010 Sean Murray: Was I shocked? So I don't know that I would if I was 169 00:09:06.010 --> 00:09:12.040 necessarily shocked yet, because the bill is in such early stages 170 00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:15.460 that from what I understand, it only has one sponsor. Okay, so 171 00:09:15.460 --> 00:09:18.340 if a bill is going to have a lot of legs to it, from the very 172 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:20.500 beginning, you'll usually have several sponsors who are all 173 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:22.630 like, yes, I want my name attached to it from the 174 00:09:22.630 --> 00:09:25.630 beginning. So that, you know, it becomes my bill and your bill 175 00:09:25.660 --> 00:09:28.570 going around. And you know, and say that this was our signature, 176 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:31.360 you know, this is our one of our signature achievements of these 177 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.330 future ones. Yeah, I've only seen one sponsor attached to the 178 00:09:34.330 --> 00:09:37.210 bill. I don't even think it's even gone into any committees 179 00:09:37.210 --> 00:09:40.300 yet. So we're talking about super early stages. But the 180 00:09:40.300 --> 00:09:43.270 reason we reported on it is because it's good to know that 181 00:09:43.270 --> 00:09:46.480 these things are in the works from the very beginning because 182 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.390 as we saw in New York, even though we reported on its 183 00:09:49.390 --> 00:09:53.950 progress along the way, people people were still shocked when 184 00:09:53.950 --> 00:09:57.040 it actually passed. In fact, when we reported that it passed 185 00:09:57.040 --> 00:09:59.650 and these were the ramifications. Some people told 186 00:09:59.650 --> 00:10:03.100 us We must be lying cause they had not heard anything about it, 187 00:10:03.130 --> 00:10:05.890 even though we've talked about it for months. So, you know, 188 00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:08.350 what else can we do other than bring it to people's attention? 189 00:10:08.350 --> 00:10:13.990 That's all we do. We report the news, a member of the Virginia's 190 00:10:14.050 --> 00:10:19.240 state legislature did introduce a bill. On commercial financing, 191 00:10:19.270 --> 00:10:22.630 APR disclosure, it's not as comprehensive as the New York 192 00:10:22.630 --> 00:10:25.630 one. It's like, it's like a trim down stripped down version. 193 00:10:25.750 --> 00:10:31.240 Yeah, that focuses entirely on sales based financing, otherwise 194 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:33.550 known as revenue based financing, or as some people 195 00:10:33.550 --> 00:10:36.820 call it Merchant Cash Advance. So it's targeting one very 196 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:37.990 specific thing. 197 00:10:38.140 --> 00:10:40.570 Johny Fernandez: So if we want to get even more specific. It's 198 00:10:40.570 --> 00:10:44.980 Virginia, Virginia House Bill 1027. And it's aimed squarely at 199 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:47.200 sales based financing providers. 200 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.460 Sean Murray: Yeah, so that's the term of use sales based finance. 201 00:10:49.460 --> 00:10:52.100 And that's been the key word in a lot of the in a lot of the 202 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:56.540 state proposals, sales based financing. They're basically 203 00:10:56.540 --> 00:10:58.760 saying, if you're taking a if you're looking at someone's 204 00:10:58.760 --> 00:11:01.040 revenue, and you're buying it, buying some of their future 205 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:04.220 sales, or taking a percentage of your future revenue, as 206 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:07.460 repayment that this counts as sales based financing, that's 207 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:11.930 aimed very specifically at one area of the finance market. And 208 00:11:11.930 --> 00:11:14.510 that's where that's where at least one Virginia state 209 00:11:14.510 --> 00:11:17.990 legislator has, you know, put their attention on, we'll see 210 00:11:17.990 --> 00:11:20.750 what happens to it could be nothing. But I don't want to not 211 00:11:20.750 --> 00:11:23.690 tell people, if we know it's in the works, because the earlier 212 00:11:23.690 --> 00:11:25.700 you know about something, the better. So we don't end up with 213 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:28.760 a New York situation where the bill passes. Everyone says that 214 00:11:28.760 --> 00:11:31.010 can't be I've never heard of it. So that's, that's what's going 215 00:11:31.010 --> 00:11:31.340 on in Virginia. 216 00:11:31.800 --> 00:11:33.420 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. And speaking of New York, I know, 217 00:11:33.420 --> 00:11:36.090 it's one of those things that even the New York regulators, 218 00:11:36.090 --> 00:11:40.080 they also saw that, like the, the, you know, what they've 219 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:43.620 introduced is, is still weak. I mean, it's not one of those 220 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:45.960 things that, you know, they have everything figured out, the 221 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:49.200 language is great. There's still a lot of questions regarding 222 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:52.620 that, and, and how it's going to affect the business. And like, 223 00:11:52.800 --> 00:11:55.410 you know, I think my the one thing that keeps coming to mind, 224 00:11:55.410 --> 00:11:57.840 right, when I think about the New York bill is like, if you 225 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:00.570 live in Florida, and there's a transaction in New York, and 226 00:12:00.570 --> 00:12:04.170 your deal touches New York, do you still technically get 227 00:12:04.170 --> 00:12:07.200 impacted even if like, you know, it's like things like that, 228 00:12:07.230 --> 00:12:10.380 like? And then the other thing, were the comments, you know, in 229 00:12:10.380 --> 00:12:12.810 New York, like, again, the bill has passed, but it's still 230 00:12:12.810 --> 00:12:14.580 technically weak, because there's still a lot of 231 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:16.950 questions. And I think that's what's interesting about the 232 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:20.370 Virginia law, even though it's still fairly new, 233 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.250 Sean Murray: It's just a bill. It's just it's just an idea. 234 00:12:22.250 --> 00:12:26.000 Johny Fernandez: It's an idea, excuse me, that they are 235 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.910 probably looking at Maryland, they're probably looking at New 236 00:12:28.910 --> 00:12:32.300 York and kind of seeing how that's resulted. And clearly, 237 00:12:32.300 --> 00:12:36.260 that hasn't resulted in the best for the for them. Because a lot, 238 00:12:36.290 --> 00:12:38.930 there's still a lot of questions for everything. 239 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.090 Sean Murray: Yeah, you bring up a really good point, because 240 00:12:41.210 --> 00:12:44.330 here you have Virginia copying and pasting huge segments of the 241 00:12:44.330 --> 00:12:48.050 New York, of the New York law. And I we'll do that too. But New 242 00:12:48.050 --> 00:12:51.890 York, would have benefited from a lot of earlier correspondence 243 00:12:51.920 --> 00:12:54.650 with people who it was going to affect because what are they 244 00:12:54.650 --> 00:12:57.170 have, as you just said, it's weak. And people have all these 245 00:12:57.170 --> 00:13:00.620 questions, weak in the terms of nobody knows how you know, who 246 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:04.220 it applies to, is how you there's a lot of questions. It's 247 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:06.800 too ambiguous. And so what did New York regulators do, they 248 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:09.590 actually said, Oh, I know we'll just call another state that 249 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:11.810 implemented something similar. So they called the regulators in 250 00:13:11.810 --> 00:13:14.540 California, who passed their own disclosure bill like four years 251 00:13:14.540 --> 00:13:16.430 ago. And they said, Well, what did you guys do? And they said, 252 00:13:16.670 --> 00:13:18.770 We didn't know what to do. We couldn't fix this thing. We've 253 00:13:18.770 --> 00:13:21.440 been working on it for four years, New York is like, you got 254 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:24.830 to be kidding me. Right? Four years, you had you had had this 255 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:26.990 on your desk, you weren't able to figure it out. We're stuck 256 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:29.480 with implementing this, like in a week from now. Never gonna 257 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:31.790 happen. So they delayed the bill. Then he had Virginia 258 00:13:31.790 --> 00:13:33.680 saying, Oh, well, copy New York, but New York doesn't know what 259 00:13:33.680 --> 00:13:36.020 to do. California didn't know what to do. Nobody knows what to 260 00:13:36.020 --> 00:13:38.750 do. But everyone's creating bills, that, Oh, we need to 261 00:13:38.750 --> 00:13:42.770 disclose. But it seems like people would these states not 262 00:13:42.770 --> 00:13:45.290 saying that their initiatives are bad or acting in bad faith. 263 00:13:45.500 --> 00:13:48.320 But they it seems like they would certainly benefit from 264 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.320 communicating with the party it's going to impact from the 265 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:55.700 very beginning, before they passed the law. Because we as 266 00:13:55.700 --> 00:13:57.980 we're seeing so far the law gets passed, and then everyone says, 267 00:13:58.010 --> 00:13:58.910 Oh, this isn't gonna work. 268 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.630 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, no, it's true. I think one of the things 269 00:14:01.630 --> 00:14:05.020 that was very, very interesting was that, you know, for one of 270 00:14:05.020 --> 00:14:09.640 these meetings that you know, they have, they were asking, you 271 00:14:09.640 --> 00:14:13.690 know, the leaders, you know, the state leaders, and a lot of the 272 00:14:13.690 --> 00:14:15.550 state leaders, they're like, confused themselves, they're 273 00:14:15.550 --> 00:14:18.280 like, what does this mean? Or like, what is the verbage of 274 00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:21.010 this? Or just, they're just trying to understand the gauge 275 00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:24.220 of the entire industry, and they don't even know and it's like, 276 00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:27.340 there's a lot of unknowns, it's across the board. 277 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:29.335 Sean Murray: You can't pass it can't pass a law and not know 278 00:14:29.383 --> 00:14:32.059 anything. And let's and not understanding that it's, you 279 00:14:32.107 --> 00:14:35.165 really need to understand, talk to the relevant people. You will 280 00:14:35.213 --> 00:14:37.985 find if you're out there and you're a regulator and you're 281 00:14:38.033 --> 00:14:40.900 watching, you will find that so many people involved in this 282 00:14:40.948 --> 00:14:44.007 industry, are very interested in passing some sort of regulation 283 00:14:44.055 --> 00:14:46.922 to address the issues that you are are concerned with. Yeah, 284 00:14:46.970 --> 00:14:49.790 which is great news, because they're not combative. They're 285 00:14:49.837 --> 00:14:52.657 not opposed to something right. But it seems like from what 286 00:14:52.705 --> 00:14:55.525 we've gathered, it would it would it would serve everyone's 287 00:14:55.573 --> 00:14:58.392 interest better if there was communication a lot more early 288 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:01.355 in the process. so that we don't end up with situations where 289 00:15:01.403 --> 00:15:04.080 there are laws passed, and then no one knows what to do. 290 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:05.650 Johny Fernandez: And I think the other thing that's interesting 291 00:15:05.650 --> 00:15:09.430 is that the communication not only has to be within the area 292 00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:12.940 of state leaders, but also to the constituents that, you know, 293 00:15:12.970 --> 00:15:15.940 want to chime in or like, like in New York, it's like, hey, 294 00:15:15.940 --> 00:15:19.510 let's open up the Comments area. And then everyone's like, Oh, we 295 00:15:19.510 --> 00:15:21.220 didn't even know, like, we didn't even know that was 296 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:23.890 happening. We didn't know where to go. And we didn't know there 297 00:15:23.890 --> 00:15:27.460 was a deadline, the deadline passed. So it's like, at the end 298 00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:29.560 of the day, it's just a big clustered mess, 299 00:15:29.630 --> 00:15:31.580 Sean Murray: Isn't it? It's so weird. That's our, hey, let's 300 00:15:31.580 --> 00:15:36.050 open it up to comments after the law is passed, and their like oh 301 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.060 like, Hey, shouldn't you have done this before the law was 302 00:15:38.060 --> 00:15:40.940 passed? Now the law has already passed, and their like they take 303 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:43.190 comments. Hey, what do you guys think of this? Oh, this is not 304 00:15:43.190 --> 00:15:44.780 going to work? Oh, it's already the law. 305 00:15:45.890 --> 00:15:49.880 Johny Fernandez: So it's interesting, I'm definitely 306 00:15:49.880 --> 00:15:52.370 going to be interested and I say this all the time, about what's 307 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:57.410 gonna be happening in Virginia, because I want to see how this 308 00:15:57.410 --> 00:15:58.100 is gonna evolve. 309 00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.760 Sean Murray: Yeah. And I we will keep everyone updated as to 310 00:16:00.760 --> 00:16:03.280 whether or not one of us is shocked by the developments 311 00:16:03.310 --> 00:16:05.590 Johny Fernandez: You know, maybe I'm not gonna be shocked. 312 00:16:06.250 --> 00:16:08.650 Sean Murray: Well we'll find out. Find out tune in. Tune in 313 00:16:08.650 --> 00:16:11.560 for my reaction. And Johnny's analysis of it. 314 00:16:12.490 --> 00:16:14.230 Johny Fernandez: I'm not surprised that you were shocked. 315 00:16:16.870 --> 00:16:20.050 Like the title in question about had a car, remember, 316 00:16:20.050 --> 00:16:21.380 Sean Murray: Yeah, we're talking about whether or not you had a 317 00:16:21.380 --> 00:16:23.240 car and all sudden you weren't sure if you had one. 318 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.030 Johny Fernandez: I have I do have a car. Are you sure? I am 319 00:16:26.030 --> 00:16:31.400 sure. So for the final conversation, today, we're going 320 00:16:31.400 --> 00:16:35.690 to talk about Brendan Ross. This is the case that Sean you've 321 00:16:35.690 --> 00:16:38.870 been following for the last three years, three, four years. 322 00:16:39.110 --> 00:16:44.270 There's something that I am just now following up on. So I don't 323 00:16:44.270 --> 00:16:48.800 have the minute details like you may have. But to remind the 324 00:16:48.800 --> 00:16:52.520 people watching about Brendan Ross, who was Brendan Ross? 325 00:16:52.670 --> 00:16:56.150 Sean Murray: So he is he was the founder and CEO of a hedge fund 326 00:16:56.150 --> 00:16:57.890 called direct lending investments. 327 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.530 Johny Fernandez: Okay. So this came out a couple years ago, he 328 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:05.130 he's now you know, he's, there's a couple of complaints filed 329 00:17:05.130 --> 00:17:09.450 about him defrauding investors. So we know that back in 2017, 330 00:17:09.810 --> 00:17:12.030 his firm had over a billion dollars in assets under 331 00:17:12.030 --> 00:17:15.420 management, he had directed it for them to be distributed a 332 00:17:15.420 --> 00:17:19.980 certain way. And you can take it away from there to see I fully 333 00:17:19.980 --> 00:17:22.770 understand how it was distributed and who he lied to. 334 00:17:23.230 --> 00:17:26.290 Sean Murray: Okay, yeah. So I'll keep you I'll keep you updated 335 00:17:26.290 --> 00:17:29.260 on what happened. So it's go ahead. You got some you got 336 00:17:29.260 --> 00:17:31.150 something you want to share? Alright, chime in Johnny. 337 00:17:31.180 --> 00:17:33.670 Johny Fernandez: All right, good. No you first you first. 338 00:17:35.050 --> 00:17:36.490 Sean Murray: You want it you want to throw something out? You 339 00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:38.050 want it like? Like, a fact? 340 00:17:38.110 --> 00:17:40.030 Johny Fernandez: No, because I want I want I like to follow the 341 00:17:40.030 --> 00:17:43.270 timeline. So 2017 is then we're talking about 2019 When he 342 00:17:43.270 --> 00:17:45.010 resigned, okay, that was about 2020. 343 00:17:45.010 --> 00:17:47.220 Sean Murray: So I guess you could say I don't know if 344 00:17:47.220 --> 00:17:51.360 there's anything particular about 2017. But he was a very 345 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:54.300 well known hedge fund operator in the alternative lending 346 00:17:54.300 --> 00:17:58.500 space. He did provide his firm, his firm did provide capital to 347 00:17:58.890 --> 00:18:02.250 online small business lenders, peer to peer lenders, he was 348 00:18:02.250 --> 00:18:04.890 kind of the his firm is kind of the go to place if you were in 349 00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:08.430 an online, small business, finance, online consumer 350 00:18:08.430 --> 00:18:13.380 finance. And, you know, they were at all the shows. I saw 351 00:18:13.830 --> 00:18:19.110 Brendan speak at some conferences too. And then 2019 352 00:18:19.350 --> 00:18:22.530 headline comes out saying he's resigning, like all of a sudden, 353 00:18:22.560 --> 00:18:26.400 something had happened, he resigned. And then within like 354 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:30.000 days scandal broke, that he was involved, or the company was 355 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.960 involved in some type of mismanagement of investor funds. 356 00:18:34.110 --> 00:18:35.880 And it just kind of spiraled from there. 357 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.660 Johny Fernandez: So in 2019, from what my understanding from 358 00:18:38.660 --> 00:18:43.070 my from my reading it was, so he resigned. And then after that, 359 00:18:43.100 --> 00:18:46.160 there was an SEC filed a civil complaint for him. 360 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.355 Sean Murray: Yeah, so he was sued by the Securities and 361 00:18:48.419 --> 00:18:52.462 Exchange Commission, the result. No there were various types of 362 00:18:52.527 --> 00:18:56.634 wrong wrongdoing, basically, you know, miss misstating things to 363 00:18:56.698 --> 00:19:00.870 investors, supposedly, there was some collaboration on, you know, 364 00:19:00.934 --> 00:19:04.528 cooking the books, so to speak, so that investor returns 365 00:19:04.592 --> 00:19:08.443 appeared to be better than what they actually were. And then 366 00:19:08.507 --> 00:19:12.614 also that funds were invested in a way that were counter to what 367 00:19:12.678 --> 00:19:16.208 he was telling investors that supposedly everything was 368 00:19:16.272 --> 00:19:20.252 supposed to go into alternative lending. But he had invested a 369 00:19:20.316 --> 00:19:24.231 significant significant amount of the money into what appears 370 00:19:24.295 --> 00:19:27.953 to be international telecom companies, for which a lot of 371 00:19:28.017 --> 00:19:31.419 that money seemed to have been lost and was no longer 372 00:19:31.483 --> 00:19:35.526 recoverable, were talking about hundreds of millions of dollars 373 00:19:35.590 --> 00:19:39.377 of investor money, all of a sudden was lost in these really 374 00:19:39.441 --> 00:19:43.291 strange, seemingly undisclosed investments. And between that 375 00:19:43.356 --> 00:19:47.014 and the the kind of the funny reporting that was that was 376 00:19:47.078 --> 00:19:50.864 coming out. He was eventually arrested by the FBI. So there 377 00:19:50.929 --> 00:19:54.651 was there were two things he was sued by the SEC. And then 378 00:19:54.715 --> 00:19:58.438 criminal charges were brought against him as well. And the 379 00:19:58.502 --> 00:20:02.352 criminal charges are you know, were A few years ago, the SEC 380 00:20:02.417 --> 00:20:04.920 claim case was three years ago in 2019. 381 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.630 Johny Fernandez: Okay, so some of the charges 10 counts of wire 382 00:20:07.630 --> 00:20:10.600 fraud based on the scheme that he executed back in 2013 and 383 00:20:10.600 --> 00:20:14.620 2019. He obviously defrauded investors and funds managed by 384 00:20:14.620 --> 00:20:21.610 his company. So at this point, Sean, we brought him up. Where 385 00:20:21.610 --> 00:20:23.230 is he? What's going on now? 386 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:26.750 Sean Murray: Yeah. So I think what happens is, you hear the 387 00:20:26.750 --> 00:20:30.500 big headlines, arrested SEC, you know, FBI, blah, blah, blah, 388 00:20:30.500 --> 00:20:34.280 blah. And then the years go by, and it comes down to whatever 389 00:20:34.280 --> 00:20:37.820 happened with Yeah, you know, so and so. And it just kind of gets 390 00:20:37.850 --> 00:20:40.670 tossed by the wayside. And no one knows what's going on. And 391 00:20:40.670 --> 00:20:43.670 this was a very, very, very significant development, what it 392 00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:47.180 was all taking place. And obviously, you know, COVID, and 393 00:20:47.180 --> 00:20:49.610 other things have just kind of completely taken over the 394 00:20:49.610 --> 00:20:52.190 message. Right. So it seems like we've all forgotten about it. 395 00:20:52.520 --> 00:20:58.070 But the criminal case is still in the process. Yeah. And that's 396 00:20:58.070 --> 00:21:02.060 why, you know, that's why we're bringing it up. Brendan Ross is 397 00:21:02.090 --> 00:21:07.040 out on bail, okay. And his trial was postponed, I think, to July 398 00:21:07.070 --> 00:21:13.790 26 of this year. So he has still pled not guilty to the charges. 399 00:21:13.790 --> 00:21:17.450 It's very important that we that we, that we emphasize that he 400 00:21:17.450 --> 00:21:21.500 has pled not guilty. His trial is scheduled for July 26. So if 401 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:23.480 you're wondering whatever happened to Brendan Ross in 402 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:26.270 direct lending investments, the big hedge fund operator, but 403 00:21:26.270 --> 00:21:28.730 everyone seemed to know whether they used him or not. He was on 404 00:21:28.730 --> 00:21:32.930 CNBC as a guest, we quoted him in some of our stories. Yeah, I 405 00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:35.000 have to I have to tell you that it's up there on our site 406 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:38.090 already. Yeah. Anyone can see it. We quoted him in some of our 407 00:21:38.090 --> 00:21:41.480 stories. He was a guest on CNBC, he spoke at the conferences, and 408 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:44.420 a lot of people borrowed from him. And his trial is scheduled 409 00:21:44.420 --> 00:21:48.110 for July, July. So that's what happened with Brendan Ross. I 410 00:21:48.110 --> 00:21:50.300 have not spoken with him personally, since all this has 411 00:21:50.300 --> 00:21:52.790 happened. We've written you know, a few follow ups is kind 412 00:21:52.790 --> 00:21:56.060 of giving people like a rundown of what you know, here's what 413 00:21:56.060 --> 00:21:59.060 happened. Here's what happened. Here's what happened. But it 414 00:21:59.060 --> 00:22:02.810 seems like a lot of a lot of the information that people are 415 00:22:02.810 --> 00:22:06.140 seeking is still not has still not been revealed. In fact, the 416 00:22:06.140 --> 00:22:10.070 whole telecom thing I was just talking about before, yeah, that 417 00:22:10.070 --> 00:22:13.490 never really got fully flushed out. I tried to look into a lot 418 00:22:13.490 --> 00:22:16.910 of that myself. And there were just a lot of confusing links, 419 00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:20.990 in that these investments appeared to be in I don't know, 420 00:22:21.890 --> 00:22:25.040 you know, businesses that were hard to find any information 421 00:22:25.040 --> 00:22:28.940 about. Yeah, all over the world. So I don't know what happened to 422 00:22:28.940 --> 00:22:31.040 the money. There were people out there that were hurt and 423 00:22:31.040 --> 00:22:35.300 financially impacted. Yeah, some very upset people. He was kind 424 00:22:35.300 --> 00:22:38.540 of a face for alternative lending for a while. And I guess 425 00:22:38.540 --> 00:22:41.030 we'll see what happens if the trial will take place, or if 426 00:22:41.030 --> 00:22:44.150 there will be some type of, you know, settlement. 427 00:22:44.550 --> 00:22:47.190 Johny Fernandez: So the one question I have for you after 428 00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:50.460 talking about someone like Brendan Ross, is when something 429 00:22:50.460 --> 00:22:55.350 like this happens, you know, you know, a face to the alternative 430 00:22:55.350 --> 00:23:00.780 finance industry? What when things like this go down? What 431 00:23:00.780 --> 00:23:02.340 does it do to our industry? 432 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:05.610 Sean Murray: It's terrible. Oh, it's really, really bad. Yeah. 433 00:23:05.790 --> 00:23:08.430 For those who did not borrow from him or have any business 434 00:23:08.430 --> 00:23:12.420 with him, it still impacted their business. Yeah. Because it 435 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:14.610 creates a bad look. Right? 436 00:23:14.780 --> 00:23:17.660 Johny Fernandez: A bad look, not only for people in our industry, 437 00:23:17.660 --> 00:23:19.190 but also for the out exactly. 438 00:23:19.190 --> 00:23:23.290 Sean Murray: Yeah, yeah. More so for the outside than the inside. 439 00:23:23.320 --> 00:23:26.200 Because if you're looking to invest in the industry, and you 440 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:30.310 see a big face, who's attached to it in some way, and they're 441 00:23:30.310 --> 00:23:32.800 being accused of all these, all these things, you're saying, 442 00:23:32.830 --> 00:23:36.490 Hmm, you know, is what I'm going to see is it exactly what it 443 00:23:36.490 --> 00:23:39.040 appears to be. Or there's something else going on here. 444 00:23:39.070 --> 00:23:44.110 And so yeah, it did, it did kind of, it really did hurt the kind 445 00:23:44.110 --> 00:23:48.250 of the value of of everything, because he wasn't not just 446 00:23:48.250 --> 00:23:50.170 business lending, he was consumer lending. And he was 447 00:23:50.170 --> 00:23:52.120 alternative lending, he was FinTech, he really made it a 448 00:23:52.120 --> 00:23:55.090 point to say, this is what I'm all about. He had all these 449 00:23:55.090 --> 00:23:58.240 theories for why it was a good investment. One of his big 450 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.390 theories for small business lending and MCA was that he 451 00:24:01.390 --> 00:24:03.760 would go out to conferences and say, small businesses are 452 00:24:03.760 --> 00:24:07.420 overpaying for credit. He's like, That's why it makes so 453 00:24:07.420 --> 00:24:10.540 much sense. Because if the if they're going to go and get a 454 00:24:10.540 --> 00:24:14.110 loan from the SBA, it's going to be a few percentage points, 455 00:24:14.110 --> 00:24:17.470 right. But if they go to the online, small business lender 456 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:20.800 it's going to be significantly more, there's all this margin. 457 00:24:21.520 --> 00:24:24.400 And that's where they're going to make big returns for 458 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:28.390 investors. And I think people really listened to that believed 459 00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:31.900 it soaked it in, and I guess it ended up not being completely 460 00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:31.990 true. 461 00:24:32.350 --> 00:24:35.530 Johny Fernandez: Yeah. So for someone watching this right now, 462 00:24:35.740 --> 00:24:40.480 and they are doing similar tricks. You know, they're trying 463 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:43.900 to like, you know, they're being wise and they're like, oh, like, 464 00:24:43.900 --> 00:24:46.840 you know, I'm just gonna do this here. Do this there. A little a 465 00:24:46.840 --> 00:24:49.930 little fraud here, a little fraud here scam here, and they 466 00:24:49.930 --> 00:24:52.570 know what's wrong, but they're like, I'm not gonna get caught. 467 00:24:52.630 --> 00:24:53.950 What would you say to that guy? 468 00:24:54.620 --> 00:24:56.840 Sean Murray: I don't know, I mean, my advice to anyone is, 469 00:24:56.840 --> 00:25:00.500 you know, always do everything the right way. Doesn't matter 470 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:03.050 how small you are, there's some people who go with the with the 471 00:25:03.050 --> 00:25:05.900 impression that oh, you know, I'm small, nobody's gonna care 472 00:25:05.900 --> 00:25:08.420 about me. Yeah, I'll make a couple million, you know, be off 473 00:25:08.420 --> 00:25:12.230 the radar, it's never gonna come back on me. I think it will, I 474 00:25:12.230 --> 00:25:16.040 think, I think what we're gonna see in a couple other cases that 475 00:25:16.040 --> 00:25:17.840 are happening right now, unrelated to the one we just 476 00:25:17.840 --> 00:25:23.420 talked about, is that someone else got in trouble. And now you 477 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:26.300 have all these people who are saying, you know, I'm too small 478 00:25:26.300 --> 00:25:29.810 for anyone to ever care about my little scheme. And the person 479 00:25:29.810 --> 00:25:32.720 that they kind of had a business relationship got in trouble for 480 00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:36.590 something else is now desperate to turn all the other people 481 00:25:36.590 --> 00:25:40.640 around them in for something as bargaining power, right? And 482 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.760 this person saying, Oh, no, yeah, you know what I mean, 483 00:25:43.790 --> 00:25:46.760 yeah, this person knows what I was doing. Yeah. Even though 484 00:25:46.760 --> 00:25:49.490 it's small. Now they're trying to save themselves. I'm going to 485 00:25:49.490 --> 00:25:52.790 get found out so I think the lesson here is you're never too 486 00:25:52.790 --> 00:25:55.820 small. Always do things the right way. It's the best way to 487 00:25:55.820 --> 00:25:58.910 do business. There's no reason to do you know, to, to, you 488 00:25:58.910 --> 00:26:01.070 know, cut corners or do anything illegal ever. 489 00:26:01.070 --> 00:26:04.420 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, that's good advice. So moving on from 490 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:06.400 this conversation, which I think it was very, it was very 491 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:11.200 interesting. We're gonna be meeting a lot of people in 492 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.760 Miami. Okay, on March 24, at the JW Marriott Marquis, gonna be a 493 00:26:15.760 --> 00:26:18.040 big meeting. It's gonna be a big meeting people are gonna meet us 494 00:26:18.040 --> 00:26:23.800 in person. So let's talk about Miami. deBanked Miami Connect I 495 00:26:24.100 --> 00:26:29.050 can never like I always have struggled saying that. My 496 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:30.730 deBanked Miami Connect 497 00:26:31.180 --> 00:26:32.170 Sean Murray: deBanked Connect Miami 498 00:26:33.550 --> 00:26:38.800 Johny Fernandez: That's right. Did anyways, we're excited. I'm 499 00:26:38.800 --> 00:26:40.510 excited for that. It's gonna be a good time. 500 00:26:41.380 --> 00:26:43.990 Sean Murray: You're gonna be at some other event. I don't know I 501 00:26:43.990 --> 00:26:45.220 had Miami in the name. 502 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.790 Johny Fernandez: We're gonna go here. Oh, it's at the JW 503 00:26:48.790 --> 00:26:52.030 Marriott Marquis. That's right. I'm not gonna show up at the JW 504 00:26:52.030 --> 00:26:54.310 Marriott, okay, I'm gonna show up at the JW Marriott yeah, 505 00:26:54.310 --> 00:26:55.930 Sean Murray: There's there's three different Marriott's with 506 00:26:55.930 --> 00:26:58.690 similar sounding names, it has to be the JW, Marriott, Marquis, 507 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:01.120 if it just doesn't have marquis in the name, it's the wrong one. 508 00:27:01.120 --> 00:27:03.460 It's the wrong one. And I'm glad you brought it up just because 509 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:06.580 yeah, our room block had already sold out, okay. And we just 510 00:27:06.580 --> 00:27:10.090 increased the allotted that we have. So if you want to go book 511 00:27:10.090 --> 00:27:13.150 a room in the last few days, and it says sold out, the great news 512 00:27:13.150 --> 00:27:16.180 is that as of this morning, they increased the amount that are 513 00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:19.060 available, and you should be able to book it. But here we 514 00:27:19.060 --> 00:27:21.820 are, you know, two months out, we're already worrying about 515 00:27:21.820 --> 00:27:25.210 rooms selling out and being booked up. So that's any 516 00:27:25.210 --> 00:27:27.970 indication of what's to come. I think don't wait too late to buy 517 00:27:27.970 --> 00:27:28.390 a ticket. 518 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.250 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, for sure. And obviously, for updates, you 519 00:27:30.250 --> 00:27:33.070 can check us out online. If there's any updates that happen 520 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:35.680 for people that are gonna wait last minutes to buy the tickets, 521 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:37.450 because we always have those people. What do you have to say 522 00:27:37.450 --> 00:27:37.780 to them? 523 00:27:38.290 --> 00:27:40.390 Sean Murray: Just don't wait. Too late. 524 00:27:40.510 --> 00:27:42.010 Johny Fernandez: Will they be able to buy a ticket at the 525 00:27:42.010 --> 00:27:42.370 door? 526 00:27:42.430 --> 00:27:42.940 Sean Murray: No. 527 00:27:43.030 --> 00:27:44.800 Johny Fernandez: Okay, will you able? Will you be able to get 528 00:27:44.800 --> 00:27:49.600 them in? No. What about if they're your friend? No. Okay. 529 00:27:50.770 --> 00:27:52.960 Sean Murray: There are no friends in this industry, 530 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:53.440 Johnny. 531 00:27:53.530 --> 00:28:00.040 Johny Fernandez: Alright. So we suggest, will there be a cut off 532 00:28:00.040 --> 00:28:04.570 for tickets at some point? Only when it's sold out? Okay. Yeah. 533 00:28:04.810 --> 00:28:06.970 And once it's sold out, there's gonna be no more tickets. 534 00:28:07.210 --> 00:28:10.150 Sean Murray: That's true, though. Although I will say, 535 00:28:10.570 --> 00:28:13.840 even if it doesn't sell out, we will shut it off prior to the 536 00:28:13.840 --> 00:28:16.450 event. Okay, we're not going to sell them the night before or 537 00:28:16.450 --> 00:28:18.010 the day before. Regardless, 538 00:28:18.010 --> 00:28:19.590 Johny Fernandez: The reason I've asked all these specific 539 00:28:19.590 --> 00:28:22.380 questions is because these specific questions have been 540 00:28:22.410 --> 00:28:27.540 asked by people that I've seen at the events. They're like, 541 00:28:27.540 --> 00:28:31.110 Hey, can you get me in like, Hey, I just flew from across the 542 00:28:31.110 --> 00:28:36.480 country, didn't have a ticket, I need to get in. And that I need, 543 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:37.920 they're, like desperately looking at me I was like, I 544 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:40.320 can't do anything. I met a couple people that flew from 545 00:28:40.320 --> 00:28:43.830 across the country just to be a deBanked event. And they didn't 546 00:28:43.830 --> 00:28:45.990 have a ticket. And they waited the day of 547 00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:48.990 Sean Murray: Yeah, we get, we get so much advance notice of 548 00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:54.120 our events, I know things come up, that can distract you. You 549 00:28:54.120 --> 00:28:56.970 know, both prior at some point a week or you know, you get COVID 550 00:28:56.970 --> 00:28:59.970 or something who knows you go on vacation, or you have some type 551 00:28:59.970 --> 00:29:03.150 of personal family issue. We're giving you months of advance 552 00:29:03.150 --> 00:29:06.990 notice. So we do get stories saying, Well, you know, this 553 00:29:06.990 --> 00:29:09.180 happened to me the other day, that's why I wasn't able to book 554 00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:11.520 my ticket, you had months, months and months and months to 555 00:29:11.520 --> 00:29:14.790 do it. I think and if you're trying to make an impression, 556 00:29:14.790 --> 00:29:17.520 though, on people who are at the show, if you're trying to make 557 00:29:17.520 --> 00:29:19.050 an impression on people who are at the show how do I make an 558 00:29:19.050 --> 00:29:22.530 impression? I'm just saying this is this is my opinion, if you're 559 00:29:22.530 --> 00:29:25.200 trying to make an impression on people who are at the show, and 560 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.270 you're like in business development, and your job is to 561 00:29:27.270 --> 00:29:30.960 recruit brokers, and you show up and you don't even have a ticket 562 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:34.230 to the event. And you're like, hey, we have millions of 563 00:29:34.230 --> 00:29:37.080 dollars, send us your deals, but you don't even have a ticket. 564 00:29:37.350 --> 00:29:39.300 You couldn't even get in you couldn't even get into the 565 00:29:39.300 --> 00:29:42.900 event. What is that? What kind of signal Do you think that 566 00:29:42.900 --> 00:29:47.040 sounds if you're a broker and your biz dev guy showed up, but 567 00:29:47.040 --> 00:29:50.190 couldn't get in and didn't have a ticket? How we're gonna I'm 568 00:29:50.190 --> 00:29:54.900 not I'm not trying to insult anybody. I'm talking about how 569 00:29:55.080 --> 00:29:58.410 you know how your impression means a lot. If you're there to 570 00:29:58.410 --> 00:30:01.890 get broker business and you can't even get into the event, 571 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:03.840 you're hanging out at the bar because you don't you don't have 572 00:30:03.840 --> 00:30:05.730 enough money. And but you're telling everyone you have 573 00:30:05.730 --> 00:30:09.060 millions of dollars. No one's gonna believe you. If you're a 574 00:30:09.060 --> 00:30:12.120 broker, and the biz dev person can't get past the front 575 00:30:12.120 --> 00:30:15.030 entrance, because they don't have a ticket, yet they're at 576 00:30:15.030 --> 00:30:18.090 the venue. And they tell you they had millions of dollars, 577 00:30:18.090 --> 00:30:20.520 and they're going to fund your deals. I don't think you should 578 00:30:20.520 --> 00:30:24.810 believe them. Yeah. If you're coming to the your coming to 579 00:30:24.810 --> 00:30:29.160 town, you're at that venue, have a ticket ahead of time, because 580 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:31.680 it's going to make a difference, and how you're perceived by 581 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:35.220 other people there. If I was a broker, and the guy pitching me 582 00:30:35.250 --> 00:30:37.560 can't even get in the front door, I'm not sending him my 583 00:30:37.560 --> 00:30:42.390 deals. End of story. Yeah. There's no army we have, you 584 00:30:42.390 --> 00:30:44.850 know, unlimited funds to fund my business. He doesn't have a few 585 00:30:44.850 --> 00:30:47.250 $100 to get into the show. I'm not working with that guy. 586 00:30:47.250 --> 00:30:50.310 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I 587 00:30:50.310 --> 00:30:54.390 think that is a mic drop right there. Hands down. Just get a 588 00:30:54.390 --> 00:30:56.430 ticket it at the end of the day, just get a ticket again. 589 00:30:57.270 --> 00:31:01.800 Alright, so that's all all the time we have for today. If you 590 00:31:01.800 --> 00:31:05.070 haven't followed us, go to debanked.com. Check us out. And 591 00:31:05.070 --> 00:31:07.860 also on our social media platforms, Instagram, LinkedIn, 592 00:31:07.860 --> 00:31:12.030 Twitter. That's it right. Google.com and Google.com 593 00:31:12.030 --> 00:31:14.790 Sean Murray: We also have deBanked Connect as a separate 594 00:31:14.790 --> 00:31:18.570 social media brand. So you can also look up deBanked Connect on 595 00:31:18.570 --> 00:31:20.850 the various social media channels and you will get 596 00:31:20.850 --> 00:31:25.410 updates just on deBanked Connect events, which are separate from 597 00:31:25.410 --> 00:31:28.740 Broker Fair. I have had some people reach out to me and say, 598 00:31:29.190 --> 00:31:32.550 Hey, we're interested in Miami Broker Fair as of now there is 599 00:31:32.550 --> 00:31:35.430 no Miami Broker Fair Broker Fair is a New York events, it's 600 00:31:35.430 --> 00:31:38.670 always been a New York event. This is deBanked Connect Miami, 601 00:31:38.700 --> 00:31:41.850 not Broker Fair. deBanked Connect Miami is a half day 602 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:46.290 networking focused event that's different from Broker Fair. So 603 00:31:46.290 --> 00:31:49.500 if you come come to Miami to say, this isn't Broker Fair. 604 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:51.390 Well, guess what? You're right. You're right. 605 00:31:53.190 --> 00:31:54.930 Johny Fernandez: It's a networking event half day, 606 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:56.910 Sean Murray: Half day. Yeah. It's always been that way this 607 00:31:56.910 --> 00:31:58.890 is the fourth one we've done. So this is not a change from 608 00:31:58.890 --> 00:31:59.790 anything we've ever done. 609 00:31:59.910 --> 00:32:02.340 Johny Fernandez: Cool. And if people want to come up to you 610 00:32:02.340 --> 00:32:05.970 and say, Hi, can they may they? Yeah, of course. Cool. You're 611 00:32:05.970 --> 00:32:06.450 the boss. 612 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:10.440 Sean Murray: But they gotta have a ticket. Yeah, no pictures with 613 00:32:10.440 --> 00:32:11.460 me. If you don't have a ticket, 614 00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:12.380 Johny Fernandez: Do they have to show you their ticket? 615 00:32:13.100 --> 00:32:15.020 Sean Murray: You just got to be inside and have the badge. If 616 00:32:15.020 --> 00:32:16.610 you're inside with the badge. I'll trust that you have a 617 00:32:16.610 --> 00:32:16.970 ticket. 618 00:32:16.970 --> 00:32:18.320 Johny Fernandez: Yeah, that's all. That's all that really 619 00:32:18.320 --> 00:32:21.650 matters. So yeah, please, again, we're reminding people of that, 620 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:23.690 get your ticket if you haven't done so it's going to be a great 621 00:32:23.690 --> 00:32:25.640 time. You get to hang out with us you get to hang out with the 622 00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:28.670 whole industry down in Miami. And by that time, it's probably 623 00:32:28.670 --> 00:32:30.530 gonna be very cold here in New York, and we're probably just 624 00:32:30.530 --> 00:32:31.460 kind of want to be over 625 00:32:31.510 --> 00:32:33.580 Sean Murray: Well it's that by the time it's still cold? It's 626 00:32:33.580 --> 00:32:34.750 already cold. Cold. Yeah. 627 00:32:35.290 --> 00:32:38.020 Johny Fernandez: So don't miss out, please. So from all of us 628 00:32:38.020 --> 00:32:40.360 here at the deBanked TV. I'm Johny Fernandez. 629 00:32:40.420 --> 00:32:41.110 Sean Murray: I'm Sean Murray. 630 00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:42.310 Johny Fernandez: And we'll see you guys next time.