Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Okay, I think we're live.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Are we live? All right.
Super excited to have our special guest. Our special guest. Well, welcome to the Gregory and Paul Show. I'm Gregory Paul, and we like to break down the latest in SaaS, startups, AI, whatever the Internet is debating this week. Aim for smart takes.
I like to admit that most of mine are dumb ones. People always let me know on X if I have a dumb take, which is fine. I'll just reply with a joke or meme.
We love memes way too much. We love memes so much, we decided to do an all Memes special episode, right?
[00:00:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Crazy.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: And then excited for the. You're excited?
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Very excited.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: And so, of course, for the all Meme episode, we decided to see if Charlie Light was available, the king of X parody memes. And we're like, couldn't be happier that he decided to join us today. Welcome to show Charlie.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks for having me. Thanks, guys.
[00:01:11] Speaker B: Let me. Let me do a little introduction for you for people who don't know.
So, Charlie, see if I got this. All right. So I did some research. So Charlie runs parody counts.
Chase Passive Income, The John B. Rich account was when I remember from, like 2020 is when I think I first found it. Maybe in 2019 you can explain 100 cold calls, and combined you have half a million followers with those parody accounts. And I know that you do a lot of ghost writing and create accounts and do other content creation for other people. And we've spoken before, and I know that you went to university in Colorado, you have the round, and now you live in the great city of Minneapolis.
[00:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Just.
Yeah. I mean, I just hang out out here and. And write Twitter accounts all day. Right. Memes telling my neighbors, like, especially in Minneapolis, not like, really a startup or, you know, it's not really a hub for the. The types of thing I do. And I'm in the suburbs too, so, like, especially not so, like, it's funny explaining to neighbors or people you know from our area, like, what I do. Because you're like. I mean, a few people will.
Will, like, know the accounts or. Actually, I've had a couple people I meet already follow, like, the Chase Passive Income account or whatever, which is cool. But then a lot of people are like, what the hell are you talking about? When I explain what I do?
But, yeah, just been. I've been doing it for like five and a half years. I started in early 2020, which kind of ended up being the perfect time just because that's when posting and sapphire On Twitter started to actually make money.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: And, yeah, it was just the perfect time because of, you know, Covid, everyone was talking about the stock market and news on Twitter. So I definitely benefited from. From the timing of getting into the meme game.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Tell us how you got started with it, like, because I think I first found the John B. Rich account on Twitter, I think, in 2019. Did you. Was that around when you started it? Was it earlier? Do you have a time frame?
[00:03:23] Speaker C: No, it was 2020. There was a few accounts.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: About that. I, like, took inspiration from that. Are not even around anymore. So, like, the Senator Eloise Williams account, that was one I followed and actually ended up becoming friends with the guy who ran that. But that was like, 2019.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: Let me get on the screen on there. Yeah, I was gonna put up the screen for people. So for. People don't know, because this is. We're kind of doing a meme history today. Explain, explain, explain. John B. Rich in a nutshell.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: And yeah, he still has his NFT profile picture, which is. Yes.
But, yeah, I mean, you could.
It's a good, like, time capsule because it really. I'll sometimes look up the past posts, like, 2020, 2021, and half of them just don't even make any sense anymore because they're, like, about, you know, some crazy trend that I don't even remember.
But anyway, yeah, I started in April 2020.
Like, a lot of people just had nothing going on. Like, you know, it's before I had kids, so I had, like, absolutely, you know, and I work from home, so I had, like, infinite free time.
So I decided I'll screw around on Twitter, see if I can, you know, make an account on there.
After I got a few thousand followers, I thought, hey, that'd be cool if I could try to make some money off of this.
I tried to. For, like, the rest of that year. I made some money. And then what I ended up realizing was where I could actually make this into a living was doing ghostwriting for other people.
So I picked up my first few clients kind of at the end of 2020.
Some of them wanted serious content.
Some wanted me to just make up, you know, some wanted me for my satire. So there was, like, one startup that was trying to become the onion of finance news that I worked for for a bit that was called Hard Money for the meme Historians. But that was.
They did fairly well in end of 2020. 2021.
And yeah, there was kind of the end of 2020 and the. The beginning of 2021 is when a lot of the huge finance meme accounts that are popular now emerged.
So a little bit after I started mine, like the Dr. Parikh Patel account.
Greg, a bunch of those other ones, like liquidity, have been around, but grew a lot during that time.
So kind of any account now that is big kind of got started in, in 2020 or 2021, like around Covid or all the way to the beginning of 2021 with the, the, like, AMC and GameStop stuff that was happening.
And yeah, I mean, there's all sorts of. I know one thing we can talk about is, like, the John W. Rich family tree. There's a bunch of someone, I'll define that someone had made one and kept it updated. And there was something like 80 accounts that were, like, John Rich inspired.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: This Greg account is still active.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. He's doing really, really well. Like, he's, and he's one of the best.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: And do you know who he is? Like, oh, no, it's just like some random guy or I know, I don't know.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: Like, I actually don't know. I've chatted with him a bunch, so I feel like I kind of know him. But it's funny, I think a lot of these people are always eager to, like, find out. I mean, I remember before I was publicly known with the John Rich account. Yeah. Like, oh, who is it? And I think a lot of people were expecting it to be like, oh, he works at Goldman Sachs, or he's like an industry insider. But usually it's not that exciting. It's just like they're all kind of just run by, like, a random person that doesn't really, you know, learn the identity of who runs it. You're like, okay, cool. It's just a, a guy that lives in Minnesota or wherever.
So, yeah, I don't know. I, I, I know a decent amount of the identities behind some of the big meme accounts. Some people stay anonymous either because they have to for work or just because they don't want the, you know, personal attention. I found it beneficial because then I was able to actually make money from this stuff. I felt it was just much easier that I have my personal profile, tell people, hey, I'm a real person. I'm, you know, available to be hired for ghost writing, versus the first couple clients were kind of just by accident. Like, they messaged John Rich and said, hey, do you also write for others?
But yeah, yeah.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Tell us about when you got started. You told me like, or you said, hey, you got started. And like, you made some money in the beginning. Like how did you make money in the early days before the first couple?
[00:08:08] Speaker C: Oh, well, with ghostwriting, it was basically the first couple clients, it was basically by accident, like people asking me, hey, do you write for other accounts?
So a couple people messaged my John D. Rich account because they liked it and said, you know, would you, Can I hire you to help with my content?
[00:08:24] Speaker B: To manage their Twitter account and do content for them. Okay, that makes sense.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Yes. The first couple were by accident. Then I set up my profile with my real name and started writing about that. And that's why I got more clients and, you know, referral. Referrals.
Yeah. The earlier experiments were just, you know, trying to sell merch or like doing sponsored posts or whatever. And you can make a little bit of money, but it's, it's just, especially back then, it was hard to make any decent money from a parody account. And that was before like creator payouts and really even before brands were willing to pay to have meme accounts advertise for them.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Is that a big business now for you?
[00:09:07] Speaker C: Not a big business.
It's okay.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: So like, for like passive income.
[00:09:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: People don't know. Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:16] Speaker C: So for Chase, passive income, like my creator payouts will be like 500 bucks.
And so I think it's very hard to make any, anything close to a living on there unless you have like a massive account that's going viral multiple times a day.
Because, like I'll get, you know, 15 or 20 million impressions a month with Chase, and I end up getting like 5 or 600 bucks.
Sponsored posts are better. So some months I can make it, but it's usually like a couple thousand dollars a month.
So it can, it's kind of like good side money. But I just, I think it would be very hard to make a full time living or like run a business just doing sponsored posts with Twitter accounts because, like, it's probably one of the lowest paying types of advertising. Like advertisers will pay way more to sponsor your newsletter or YouTube video or anything else besides a tweet.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah, YouTube is the one that gets the monetization correct. Right. I mean, there's even a debate between Nikita and Elon. That was Republic where they're talking about that.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Right. And I just, I mean, I don't even think it's their fault really. Like, I mean, YouTube video. The average, you know, someone views a YouTube video for, I think the average is like two minutes. I mean, the average view on a, a tweet has to be like five seconds. So I just don't know if that's really fixable. It's just kind of the nature of, you know, like a newsletter. People spend longer on it and they're more.
More invested.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Versus one tweet where they're scrolling Twitter and they're looking at a thousand tweets in 20 minutes, basically, versus YouTube. They'll actually focus on one video. So. Yeah, I mean, Twitter is the worst. Probably the worst. Or X is probably the worst for that.
I don't know, is the worst for like sponsored posts, I think. See, it's basically I just view it as like good side money. Like if someone says, hey, well, you know, will you quote, tweet this or whatever, I'll do it and you know, make a few hundred bucks. But I never really focus on it because for me the real money is like the ghost writing and consulting.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, tell us more about that. I mean, even posted this thing today, which I. I really appreciated about your career and ghost writing. This was. This wasn't really nice, but this was pretty cool.
[00:11:41] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks. I.
Yeah, so, like, at any given time, I'll have six or seven or eight clients somewhere in there.
So, like I wrote in that post, my goal is to work with clients who I can actually produce something interesting or meaningful for.
Back when I first started, I was trying to take on every client I possibly could. Like I think anyone does when they're starting a business.
And you know, what I learned is that there was definitely a lot of clients I would take on. And it just wasn't really. It was like painful for me to have to write for them because I didn't really understand their area, I didn't really understand what they did or I just didn't have like a great sense for their niche.
And then the content would just come out like, okay, so it wasn't really worthwhile for anyone.
So basically I just try to work with, you know, smaller handful clients, charge a higher price, but know that I'm gonna produce something really good for them.
So, yeah, I've always, and I think the natural question people ask, like, oh, why don't you scale it up into an agency? Because right now I'm doing all the writing.
The way I've thought about that is I've tried doing an agency.
I prefer, like, what I really like doing is the writing. Like, I love, you know, a perfect day is just, you know, getting to basically free form. Right. All day, like all, you know, so I don't really want to be someone who runs an agency where I, like, have to manage a team of writers or manage the clients. I mean, of course I manage my clients, but I don't have 30 of them to manage.
So, yeah, like, I really enjoy the actual writing part of it. So that's why I kind of stay as a writer. I think that's a big question a lot of people have to answer when they get into this type of field is like, well, let me back up. The kind of the evolution of a writer is they'll create something on their own, like a meme account or just some account that's interesting.
People want to hire them, they'll scale up, they'll take on as many clients as possible. And then at some point, they have to decide, like, okay, am I going to grow this into an agency? And so I know some people have done that and been really successful.
They hire writers, they, you know, build systems, and they have a few dozen clients and maybe do a couple million a year in revenue.
Or some writers pick kind of the opposite where they decide, okay, I'm not going to scale. I'm just going to work with a small handful of clients.
Maybe they add on some other business, like they, you know, they sell some sort of course, or they just have their own newsletter and sell advertising or they sell their own other info products.
So I. I mean, I think those are all pretty good paths, but that's usually what a writer kind of has to. To choose between.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I don't. I don't have any point that helps me with all the consulting I do. Paul, you have people on, like, some degree, right? Yeah.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
So what is your opinion of hiring? I know that you guys have some thoughts there, you know, is there a. Is there a stage where you guys would be open to hiring somebody to help you out?
[00:14:53] Speaker C: I, like, I'm definitely open to it, I think.
I don't know. I. I'm kind of still debating that myself because I. I do have, like, other clients I could.
I, like, haven't. You know, there's. There are people who want to work with me who I've just said, oh, I'm too busy right now. Like, I could take on more clients. I guess it's a matter of just hiring the right. The correct writer.
So, yeah, I'm open to it. I don't know. I just. I also kind of feel like, all right, I. I do really well. You know, just have my clients and I'll keep working, working on my other projects, like, you know, building up meme accounts or whatever else. So I don't know, I, I kind of have this internal debate with myself all the time. Like I've hired a ton of freelance writers, so my thoughts on that are, I mean, I have a pretty good network now of like good writers who I either found because they write me because I like, or they just write stuff on Twitter. So I can always hire freelancers.
It's just a little trickier because I feel like usually the client is hiring me to write for them.
So I feel like by the time I figure out what the client wants and like, you know, set up the initial stuff, I almost feel like, okay, it's probably just going to be more work to hire someone to do it because like, I already have it all in my head. I just spend an hour writing it all out and I'm done. Or you know, most of the work is done at that point. So I don't know. I, I've kind of debated it, but.
So I guess I'm not even fully decided on if I'll ever hire someone to help with this or not.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: But yeah, yeah, I think like, so, I mean I was in a big agency many, many years ago and so I think like now the technology is really different. Like, like, like the three of us have these kind of like at scale home based businesses that are like significant businesses, which I think was much harder to do even seven years ago. Like there's just so many tools and low cost tools and networks and, and there's a comfortability with all of this and, and maybe the biggest innovation is that the online audience is just massive.
It's like, it's so big. Like that's relatively recent. And I mean by relatively recent, like five to seven years, like 10 years ago, like the Internet wasn't anything like it is today. Right. You just read so many people. So having a business that's like, let's call it Internet based, which is what I think ultimately all, everything we're doing, there's some element where like it's fairly universal and you can just reach a lot of people.
They're really scalable and really efficient. And so you know, you can choose to hire people, you can choose not to, but you can get to a pretty sizable business just, just on your own. It's, it's really cool. Like, I think it's like it's the future, I think, of where a lot of careers are going to continue to go.
[00:17:38] Speaker C: Right? Yeah, I think, yeah, I think that's exactly right. Like some of the people I look up to they or like when I, when I look at the people I know from social media and analyze their businesses, the people that I kind of admire the most have a simple business and they usually have a very small team, but they obviously do really well with like with revenue and they have a high profit margin, but they just do one or two things really well.
They have an audience so you know, they can leverage that for whatever they need. But yeah, I don't know, I think like the, it's just becoming less and less popular to feel like, oh, you need to build like a whole team, you need to have full time employees. And I, the other thing is I feel like things move so quick that it's also, at least from an agency perspective, it's this massive problem with these small content agencies where they hire someone full time but then the client capacity changes like week to week because one client cancel, one client will. They all want to work with you and they want to start in two days. And you know, even if we say oh like 30 day cancellation policy, that usually doesn't happen in like the small content agency world.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: Yeah. So I think that's like the biggest issue that most smaller content agencies have is they have this mismatch of like, okay, do I build out a full time team and what if one of my writers is not totally busy? Like what if two of their clients cancel and it's a solvable problem but it's like not one I'm very good at solving. Don't want to deal with.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: I was going to say let's switch gears here because I think one of the questions that I want to ask and I think that other people want to know is like, how do you go viral? Like you've talked a bit about this. Yeah. Like what is your approach philosophy about creating, let's call it viral content?
[00:19:36] Speaker C: Yeah. So, so the main thing at least lately that I've been going more viral for is like these long form shit post stories. And I think that if I had to describe the difference between like 2020 and 2021 versus now, it's like back then, simple memes with like a picture and one or two lines basically that was like every single viral post.
And I think that kind of content got it just got a little boring like because everyone does it now.
So I've pivoted to these like long form stories basically like with the Chase Passive Income account, that's most of my stories are, you know, these longer stories that basically end with, you know, everyone stood up and applauded. And a billionaire, you know, was there and gave me a trillion dollar deal or whatever.
So the main, the main re. The main way I make those long form stories go viral is I basically just read Twitter and I read LinkedIn and I bookmark or save all of the just ridiculous stories. I see.
So let me look.
Let's see. Was there one in particular you wanted to look at actually might be better?
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Well, it's funny. I was just looking at it now. I was like this, this short Jeffrey Epstein one was pretty funny though.
The classic format still work, right?
[00:21:01] Speaker C: And you know, that one is like, actually, you know, one of my main strategies is I, I basically take two separate things that usually work and just put them together. So like I've made that same type of joke before. Something about installing a vending machine at an inopportune time or something like that. Or just like having my. It's almost like a Forrest Gump joke of like any, any historical thing that happens. Well, you know, Chase was in the background installing a vending machine somewhere.
So like that genre joke usually works pretty well.
Again though, that kind of one only works for my account.
[00:21:40] Speaker A: So.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: So like I've really built up this joke about the vending machine stuff.
So yeah, someone else could post that and it probably just wouldn't do well. So I think the other part of going viral is it's, it's actually way, way harder to go viral if you don't like have this kind of established voice.
So like, like that joke, the vending machine one can kind of do well on its own. But like from my account, my whole audience will love it. And then eventually I'll reach like the broader, you know, audience who doesn't know me and still think this is funny.
But without like that unique angle, it's just much harder to go viral because if any like breaking news happens, there's, you know, thousands of accounts rushing to go viral based on that news. So you're kind of competing with, you know, a hundred thousand other people trying to make like either the same joke or trying to make the same observations. So you kind of have to have your unique angle.
Okay, so like, yeah, let's see this story.
Okay, so this is actually copied from. I saw another ex post that basically said, you know, I was talking to some friends, cost of living is crazy or whatever. So I basically take like an ordinary story and just say, how can I make this twice as ridiculous?
[00:22:56] Speaker B: So I love being rich.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: I love being rich.
[00:23:00] Speaker B: The punchline is like, right?
[00:23:02] Speaker C: So yeah, I think two lessons from that is number one.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: Just make with this Ronald Reagan. This is good.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: Yeah, that was hilarious.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: All right, all right. Now we're having fun. Okay.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: But yeah, so, like, with this one, I just, you know, make a normal story more ridiculous.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:20] Speaker C: And then take the opposite stance. So, like, the last line I think of the original one was like, oh, the middle class is struggling, so I'll just take the opposite stance. And like, you know, another ending to that story could have been the wealthy are thriving right now, or something like that.
Yeah, yeah. So, and I think, like, with this one, with the toll, I mean, this is kind of a standard joke for me. Like, okay, how can I add a, you know, toll booth to any situation?
And it works if you're combining two jokes. So I think my most viral one in that category is basically saying my best passive income idea, adding a toll booth in front of your mom's house.
So, like, that works because you just. It's like a basic your mom joke. But then I'm adding, you know, my other joke that always works, which is adding a toll booth or adding a vending machine or whatever.
Yeah.
Wow.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: It's funny, like, what you were saying, because, like, I found I, like, I kind of stumbled into exactly the same conclusion. Like, all the stuff I had going viral this week were like, they're rather long, which I was surprised.
But, like, the in depth satire is working over the short, short, short form stuff. And the other thing that I found too, which you are talking about is like, the account generally gets known for something, and then there's almost like this insider group of people who all get.
They get the joke.
Right. Like, Like, I literally had people who are like, who is Dave Ramsey? Like, so you, like, it's hard for you to get the joke, like, if you don't know. And that's part of, I think, the whole appeal that it's this insider thing.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: Right. That's true. And I think. And once you kind of build that voice, everything just becomes so much easier. Like, I keep the Chase account going for a long time with pretty minimal effort now that I have this established audience. That's kind of the same for a lot of people. Have a personal brand is like, especially if they're on multiple. If they're on YouTube and Twitter and LinkedIn or whatever, you'll find that they go really hard for a little bit building one up. But then once they built the audience, they can kind of just mail it in and, you know, post.
If it's LinkedIn, they can post like once every few days and still get amazing results from it.
So yeah, that's really the ultimate goal of building an account like this. Like, how can I build a unique voice that I will own rather than like, I don't want to own just some generic meme account where I'm posting the exact same thing as like a thousand other meme accounts.
[00:25:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, there's like a whole. I'm sorry. Good.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: You.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: I. Paul, do you see people fighting your comments? Do you see where obvious new people that's never heard of Chase start? You know, fancy the comments.
[00:26:04] Speaker C: Like, like, do I, do I see them like arguing?
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Like, do you see new waves of people joining X who's never, you know, seeing Chase passive income?
[00:26:17] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's cool because I think if, especially when I go into a different, like if I make a joke in a different area, I will see a big surge of new followers. So like, I think I, you know, I made a few jokes about like my, my not going to my son's baseball game games or whatever and a couple of big sports accounts picked that up. So like the three year Letterman account reposted it and that got me a ton of new followers who were like, you know, people kind of like sports but are also into, you know, business finance stuff. So I think that's the main way. It's like kind of branching off into different areas but still somewhat making my same jokes or by like commenting on other big accounts. That seems to have the best effect.
So like if I repeat a post that I made a few months ago and it does really well, I'll. I find that I don't really gain as many followers from that versus like trying out something new just because then I think you get like a new set of people who are, who engage with it. If it's like it, if, if it's something you don't normally talk about, if that makes sense.
At the same time though, it's. I think some people think, oh, I'm, I've like saturated my potential audience.
But I think that's actually really hard to do because like I have 133,000 followers with the Chase account and I'm still gaining plenty of followers without even really doing much different.
And a lot of the big finance meme accounts have like 6 or 700,000 followers. So that's probably the ceiling for like the finance meme space.
But yeah, I mean it definitely comes like, it definitely has its.
I mean like some weeks I'll just gain a few hundred followers net, but then some weeks It'll be like 20,000. Because I had either tons of posts going viral or I had a post going viral that had to do with a subject that I don't normally touch on.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: This natural power one continues to do really well.
[00:28:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
That, like, has always. The last five years has been going strong.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: There were a bunch of, like, Federal Reserve bank parody accounts and stuff. But this one. This one is still going strong.
[00:28:37] Speaker C: Yeah, there was. I think it.
That's the tougher part with. If you tie it to, like, if you tie your account to one specific trend.
And I think Trump the. Not Trump how one has done a good job where he isn't totally tied to Jerome Pal stuff because, like, there could be a whole year where no one really talks about the real Jerome Powell.
So what about.
[00:28:56] Speaker B: Jerome Pal's gone. What's this guy gonna do?
[00:28:58] Speaker C: I know that, I guess. Yeah. I do wonder that I get. Like, you could. At this point, it probably. The brand stands on its own. I guess. So he could probably have that forever and it would still kind of make sense. But, yeah, I think some accounts, they will gain initial traction by, like, making fun of Janet Yellen. But then. Okay, what happens when she left office?
[00:29:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. There were a lot of charity accounts like this. Right. And I think that that's one of the challenges as they go away. So here I'm going to share. This is what one of my favorite. This maybe is what got me really into Twitter was this Rudy Havenstein account. Have you seen this one?
[00:29:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:32] Speaker B: This one? Yeah, this one. You need to explain it. So, like, Rudy Havenstein is the person who actually was the Federal Reserve bank president during Weimar Germany and the hyperinflation period prior to the Nazis. So you have to know, like, a lot about this account. Who would know this to get it? Of course, I'm. This might be my favorite account. Like, I stumbled in this one day, and I'm like, Rudy Havenstein, Weimar Bike Bank President. Like, what?
And then all the guy does is tweet about, like, inflation and, like, making fun of the Federal Reserve Bank. There's literally exchanges where him and I have had where he's like, you're the only person in the world who thinks these jokes are great and stuff.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: And.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: Like, I'm like, audience of one. Like, I always joke like this. This account is like, for only PhD economists. Like, even get half the jokes.
[00:30:30] Speaker C: Yeah. I was gonna say a lot of his are very detailed. Like, I don't even get a lot of them.
But yeah, I mean, that's like, what Makes.
I think that's what makes a good account, though, because if you're too.
If it's like, too simple and everyone would get it, then okay. It's just dumb humor usually.
So, like, if the kind of smart humor that only certain people get, I think that's usually stickier and, like, you have a, you know, more engaged audience versus the account that just tweets, like, every basic meme possible.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Yeah, this one's been banned a couple of times. Like, I think, because, like, he'll, like, just go onto, like, some bank president's account and just, like, accuse them of, like, fraud. Like, it's. It's wild stuff. Like, it's. It's. What I love about Twitter is, like, people are just like, have created this fantastic character who. Quite knowledgeable. There was an article about this guy. Like, I want to say he did even work at the Federal Reserve bank in Kansas or something like that. Like, the knowledge is just beyond. Right. Like, it's. It's wild.
It's one of the things that I think, like, makes Twitter, like, super fun was like, there's people like this out there.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, I agree. I think Twitter has a reputation for being kind of mean. But I also, in some ways that makes it good because you have to bring good ideas to the table. It's not like LinkedIn where anything you say, people will be like, oh, congratulations, great job.
Like, in some ways, it's better for the community if people are a little mean because, like, if you just. If you post something stupid, someone's going to call you out for it. So it does.
I don't know. I think it overall makes the content better if people actually have to bring good ideas.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: Really, really strict content policies.
It's like, I tried to do this parody account with my little space alien, and, like, it's got deleted, like, the. The third day or something. Like. Yeah, they don't tolerate any of that stuff on LinkedIn.
[00:32:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I've had my account spanned on there. Yeah, I tried to make one that was just my guy in.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: I mean, like a Chase Passive Income one.
[00:32:32] Speaker C: Yeah. And they just. They flagged. Well, they flagged and they said, hey, you have to provide an ID that says you are this person. Which I don't have. Obviously.
I heard a client. I don't know. I'll check in if that ever worked. A client said he was gonna do that and then order a. A fake passport from China to try that being a funny experiment. I don't know if they're.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: They are really strict on LinkedIn, like, yeah, they, like, they, like, not even all the. I mean, it's another one of those platforms. It's kind of like Reddit, where the rules aren't necessarily public. Like, it might not even be an explicit rule, but if they just decide, like, they don't like your content, it doesn't meet the, like, the spirit of the platform.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: You're out.
Yeah. I mean, there's so many accounts. Yeah. Like, they have rules, but a lot more pretty vague. So. Yeah, there's really not.
Yeah, they can basically kick you off if you're, you know, if they're doing anything you don't like. Because a lot of the rules are just pretty vague.
Yeah. And I mean, yeah, it's a private. You know, they own it. They can decide what goes on.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: Right. They can do whatever they want. I've even had stuff go viral on LinkedIn. And then people, like, arguing in the comments, like, for. They were, like, reporting on each other and stuff.
It was ridiculous. Like, they were just really upset. I can't remember why they were so upset. They were just so passionate about everything. And they're like, I'm gonna report you. And they report them, like, back and forth and stuff. I was like, which. You don't really see much on Twitter anymore, but there was a point where canceling accounts was.
Was a thing.
But now it's like, I don't think anybody gets banned from Twitter.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: Correct.
Yeah, not really.
Not nearly as much. I mean, people do. And I think it's mostly like the spam, the bot accounts. So I don't know. I haven't seen people complain. So I guess they're doing a good job taking down real bots rather than people who are acting like bots.
Yes, I think they really. Definitely not. The people have not really gotten suspended for, like, you know, saying something mean like they used to, basically just for spamming or for. I've seen that with people who create new accounts. Like, if they create an account and then they're immediately extremely active, like replying and posting a ton.
I mean, that is what you have to do to grow an account. But sometimes it gets flagged because it's like, okay, this person made the account and they commented 100 times in three days, like, probably spam.
[00:34:51] Speaker B: All right, let's talk about. There's a couple. I brought a bunch of stuff on from Meme History that I want to discuss, but this is the one that we were talking about earlier, and I want to get your thoughts on the Pru Saxon account. So people don't know. This was really big in, like, 2020. And I look, it looks like it's still active.
And the guy would give, like, stock recommendations. I can't remember how I stumbled into it.
And what I thought was, I was following it, and I noticed that, like, the guy would just tweet stock regulations, like, all day long, all the time. And then he would be like, I'm in this stock. And then the stock would collapse, and then there would be some post like, dude, you recommended a stock like, a week ago.
What's going on? And he would write back, like, I'm not in that stock. I never made that recommendation. And then people, like, post screen captures and stuff, and it would happen, like, over and over again where I was like, what is going on here? Like, is this a real stock account? Or whatever? I could. I could never make heads or tails of it. Right? And then there's an old incident where I. I have some of the stuff where a bunch of people went after them and, like, made a bunch of parody accounts, like, making fun of the account with the whole Saxena family and all that stuff. But I still can't figure out if all of this was ultimate. Oh, that door. If all this ultimately was just like. Like one big, like, organized parody. And that the Saxina account, original one is, like, just not a real.
Right. Here's the whole family with all the different parody accounts people created and stuff.
[00:36:18] Speaker C: Right? This stuff is.
[00:36:19] Speaker A: This was.
[00:36:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I remember the original was Pedro, right? The original parody was paid.
[00:36:24] Speaker B: There it is right there. Yeah.
[00:36:25] Speaker C: And he was his brother.
He was the master of, like, taking the screenshot, being like, oh, my brother Peru did this and this. And now our family is.
Yeah, I remember that. And I think that was 2021. It's probably 2022, when, like, a lot of stocks were crashing.
Yeah.
[00:36:43] Speaker B: This one links. Link, even links other. It links other accounts, like the. The Dr. Parek Patel is on here. Dated in college with sexiness sister.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:57] Speaker C: So there's.
I mean, I have no. Like, I've never met that guy behind that account. I will say, I think there's a lot of people who.
I mean, in a way, I think that's what's good about Twitter is, like, you have to be intellectually honest to get a good reputation. Because there are so many people who will, you know, promote a stock, and a month later, the stock crashes. The next day, you'd be like, oh, I actually sold it. Sold it weeks ago. Or I'm in all cash. Or, like, the gurus that Will post the day after the market crashes. Like, oh, I went all cash last week. I, you know, I could see this coming.
So I think in a way that's good that people get called out when they're intellectually dishonest. I mean, I think especially with the stock market, it's so much harder to get away with because if you say, if you recommend a stock, well, everyone can see day by day how it does.
It's easier to get away with this stuff, like in Internet marketing or other areas of business.
I mean, it's easier to lie if you want to be. Anyway, I. I don't know that. Like, I don't. I know there was speculation that some of those big stock accounts were not even real people. Like, they're invented characters so that the person who's really behind it can basically pump and dump penny stocks.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: So that's. So we know for sure some of that was true. There's a couple of accounts, Backpacker Finance, and then there was the. There was one that was like.
Oh, it was like the parody was Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell, the kids show from when, I guess when I was like a teenager, perhaps that, that guy, I believe, got arrested or there was like an investigation for like. Yeah, front running and pumping stocks. So it definitely happened.
[00:38:37] Speaker C: Yeah. And his, his case actually got dismissed, but it was like a long legal battle. It was like.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: Right, okay, so you do know about that one. Yeah.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Remember? Okay, so I want to go back to Backpacker Finance. He was. Yeah, so he was a guy who constantly talk about, oh, I retired early.
Which is one thing that really bothers me on Twitter because people will say retire early. But like, by their definition, I retired because I quit like a conventional job. So a lot of work. Yeah, they'll say I retired early. But like, really, they're just self employed. They have more flexibility, but, like, they're nowhere near, you know, financially set. Like, to me, retired would mean you don't have to work ever again. Like you're financially set.
But anyway, he was the one guy who did that who would be like, you know, I retired at 28 or whatever it was. But basically that just meant he quit. He was doing well with his side hustle. So he quit his corporate job, which is cool, but then he was selling this, like, really expensive ecom automation.
So it basically was a scam. Like they got sued for cut. You know, they took like millions of dollars.
What's hilarious, though, is that guy, his name's Danny.
I noticed there was like a.
A year or Two ago, there was a new business opened about two miles from my house. It was like a sauna. Like, enjoy a sauna by the lake at. In the winter.
And that was the guy running it. And so he lives, like, right near me.
Article in the. The Minnesota Star Tribune.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:40:13] Speaker C: After he had gotten sued, after he, like, turned his account private. Like, everyone on Twitter hates him now, and he's in the Minnesota Star Tribune saying, yeah, I quit my. Like, I retired from corporate America to start this sauna business.
Like, just.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: They've got a story, the same thing. Oh, my God. So what happened to Zach Morris? I was following that one, and then I remember.
[00:40:33] Speaker C: I remember.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:34] Speaker C: And I was like, yeah, I. I don't. Got dismissed because they made a huge deal of that when it did. I can't remember the guy's real name now. So I think they're still talking about stocks and stuff.
So I don't think they really.
I guess it's unclear if they really did anything legally wrong because they got their case dropped. But I. I don't know the details of, like, why it got.
[00:40:55] Speaker B: So what I. So it's interesting. I spent a lot of time going in the rabbit hole one day because I was just curious.
So it turns out, at least, like, I'm not a lawyer. So, like, take it for what it's worth, which is, like, not worth anything, that insider trading is not illegal. It's like an interpretation. There's no law out there that's, like, very specific. So a lot of securities laws and things, they're very complex in a sense that, like, if you're licensed, so like a licensed financial advisor or a Series 7 stockbroker, and there's other series to sell, other types of, like, commodities or whatever. There's very strict rules about what they're supposed to do. And generally those people aren't on Twitter, like, pumping stocks and doing all.
They can't do that, or they have disclaimers. There's a lot of, like, formality that they have to go through in order to do that. Right. So as a private citizen, it is legal to just go online and say, I like the stock and stuff, right? So there's like, weird gray area where if you're not a licensed person, professional, you can, like, you have a lot of leeway, but there are limits to that. And there's FTC laws about fraud and all of that. Like I said, I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know where the.
Where the.
The lines are should be drawn. Right. But for financial professionals, it's very clear what they can do and they can't do. And you're insane if you went on Twitter and were, like, pumping all kinds of stocks and then lying about it in a week. Like, this is not going to happen with those guys.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: Right? Exactly. I think, yeah, a lot of people get away with it, or at least.
Yeah, I.
I don't know. It's interesting, and I think I was trying to look. I think. Well, it's interesting because I think their case might be reinstated. I don't know. There's a lot of stuff on here, and I'm not a lawyer, but I'm trying to anyway.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, for me. For me, it's like, it's. It's funny. I like watching this stuff. It's entertaining, and I have a good time with it. But, like, yeah, be very, very careful if you're, like, taking financial advice.
Meme account seems obvious, but, like, I do think it needs to be stated. And like, the other thing I think people maybe isn't actually as obvious is that the distinction between, like, a licensed financial professional is pretty significant, and they generally aren't. Aren't on social media, pumping. Pumping stocks.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: Paul.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: We even talked about it.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: That's why the.
[00:43:16] Speaker B: I can't remember his name now. There was the one guy who. He is a, you know, a financial professional who made the call about open stock. Like, he is a licensed professional. I was listening to a podcast with him recently, and that was one of the things that people were just asking questions about. They're like, you potentially are online pumping a penny stock. Like, you know, you know, how do you feel about that? Or, like, what. What are your thoughts on that and stuff?
Because, like, generally, it's not something that people do in that world. And he. It was interesting conversation because I was very curious, like, what he thought about it, and he had some very, like, clear perspective on, like, what he liked about the company and why he was supporting it and.
And all that.
[00:43:59] Speaker C: So, yeah, I think most people who were just completely pumping Meme stocks have just moved on to meme. To Meme coins, and you can basically just do that legally now.
So that's probably where a lot of, like, the shady actors went just over to doing crypto, because. Yeah, yeah.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: I mean, the regulatory environment's different. Right? So, like. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Okay.
Should we do a few other memes, what we got earlier? Yeah. Anything you want to share, Paul?
[00:44:34] Speaker A: Do we talk about Greg's account?
[00:44:36] Speaker B: Oh, my God. You want to show mine stuff?
[00:44:39] Speaker A: Yeah. Either Yours or the other Rex?
[00:44:41] Speaker C: Not here.
[00:44:43] Speaker B: The Greg account's funnier than I am, though.
We couldn't find the, like, the. The Greg. The Greg account, which is hilarious. The guy's name's Greg. Oh, my favorite. My favorite one is where he ordered the hamburger and he said, minus the beef, minus the bun, minus remove everything, and it still cost $20. And then it just said, like, I'll keep you updated or something. What?
[00:45:08] Speaker C: Yeah, what do we think?
[00:45:10] Speaker B: You found it or.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: No, what do we think about Wendy's thoughts? My brand Go meme.
[00:45:20] Speaker C: It's funny because, I mean, they're always cited still, like, as the. The best shit posting corporate account. And they were doing this way before anyone else. Like, it's even.
Like I mentioned earlier, in 2020, I felt like no serious companies or executives would ever post memes or shit posts. Like, Wendy's had been doing it for years before that even. Like, I remember them being an example in, like, 2015 or 2016 of a brand that has fun. And them and Denny's are kind of like the only two who were doing it back then. Yeah, that I know of.
I don't know. I mean, they kind of invented the genre. I really haven't followed their stuff lately. And I. But like, I feel like from whenever they started doing that 10 or something years ago, like, they kind of invented this genre of brands.
I don't know, being funny and edgy at the same time, though. I've talked to so many people who are like, oh, we want to be like Wendy's. And then they'll just try to copy Wendy's. But then it's uncool when you just, like, try to copy something that already works that someone else made. So I think that's another reason you kind of have to carve out, like, your own niche, your own, you know, your own little quarter of the Internet. Like, you've got to carve it out because I. I've met with so many potential clients who are like, oh, we want to be like Wendy's. And yeah, if you just try to copy them, like, it's just going to be cringy or just bad. If you're basically, you know, just copying someone that.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Yeah, you can't just copy them. You gotta.
Do you know the source of this, like, meme? Where, sir, this is a Wendy's?
[00:46:59] Speaker C: That's a good question. I don't know.
[00:47:01] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know.
[00:47:02] Speaker A: Let's look it up.
[00:47:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, yeah, probably know your meme. We'll have the. The Original.
[00:47:07] Speaker B: What I know about Wendy's is that what did I. Did I talk to them? I can't remember, but they're very good at. They call it sassy, like, so I think a lot of it goes to the core of their actual brand. Like, Wendy was the guy's daughter.
And so the account kind of comes off as if Wendy's kind of like a clever, you know, poster on. On Twitter. So they really nail that.
And maybe it's an interview with people ran the account or something because they were talking about how, like, it's. It's quite difficult to do. You've got to nail this space where.
And I. I try to. I try to be in this space too, where, like, it's cool to, like, kind of poke fun at it, but you don't want to be too mean. Like, I. I'm a. I'd like to believe I'm a legit tech person. I love being in Silicon Valley and be part of the tech industry, and I love to poke fun at it, but I don't ever want to be. Come off as, like, just being unnecessarily cruel or making fun of people, you know? And that's why I thought the Masa Son one I did, that was my favorite one, because why I think it works is that Masa has been very public about the money that he lost in some of those crazy deals, right? And I think he's also very public about. He's like. He's a wild poker player, right? Just doubles down on these, like, really, really crazy bets, like with WeWork or something, and it didn't work out, but then he's. He's actually swung big and won in other cases, right? So it's just like, that's kind of his Persona. And so I don't think, like, it's strange or bizarre to like, to talk about that and talk about the losses and talk about the wins. And then the twist is that Dave Ramsey is like, this conservative middle American talk show host that people who typically call in, like, are struggling with their finances, and they're not billionaires. So the whole premise is hilarious, right? Like, billionaires calling in with, like, their. Their challenges. And then Davis is kind of like, come on. Like, what are you talking about? This is ridiculous. Just this down to earth, like, you know, country guy. He's like, are you crazy? Like, you invested in wework you doing, Right? So I miss.
[00:49:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. One. One reason that works well is, like, it's combining two popular jokes that were unrelated before this. So, like, yeah, Masan gets made fun of all the time. And then the Dave Ramsey meme format has been doing well the last few weeks.
Yeah, no, you're right.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: The Dave.
I'm sorry, I was gonna say that. Dave Ramsey. I've been doing them for a while, and for some reason, I don't know why, like, I just decided that I loved the Dame Ramsey format, and I was just doing him and doing him for, like, forever. I think it's that photo where he's kind of looking like this, and it's very serious. There's just something about that screen capture that I thought was fantastic. And I haven't done that in that often where there's, like, one theme. And I just, like, kept. I just kept doing it right. And I just thought it was funny. I'm sorry, what'd you want to say?
[00:50:02] Speaker C: I go back to your point about who you make fun of.
Yeah, it's funny because, like, Twitter is a pretty mean place, but the person being.
It's funny because I think people are mean to, you know, billionaires and, like, rich, successful people on there constantly, and that's fair game no matter what. Like, people get very personal with making fun of, you know, Jeff Bezos and his divorce or Elon Musk.
But, yeah, I think, like, people have accepted that it's fair game if they're a billionaire. You can say whatever, and then, yeah, anyone else, like, a normal person, if you make fun of them, really, they really have to deserve it.
So, like, the Coldplay CEO thing was interesting because I guess a lot of people thought that was fine just because he was, you know, rich and successful. So whatever, we can, you know, make fun of him.
Or people thought, oh, well, you know, he's obviously just a terrible person, so we can make fun of him. Like, that's an interesting one because that would not have happened. Like, I. That would not have been anywhere near as viral of a moment if he wasn't. If he was basically just like a normal guy working a mobile job, it seems like it, you know, probably still would have gone viral based on his reaction of ducking down. But I think the part of the reason is it got so big was like, okay, well, he's actually a CEO of a fairly big tech company, so I don't know. I think, yeah, people are. Are more likely.
I mean, that's like, one hard thing about becoming kind of famous on Twitter. Not that I am, but a lot of other people just get made fun of constantly. Like, say, Nick Huber, for example, like, how mean people are to him on Twitter is. Is kind of crazy.
[00:51:49] Speaker B: Yeah, he kind of. I don't know. I. I guess, like, I guess I have a lot of thoughts. And so. So originally my point was like, I think, I think Wendy's. That was the. I think that still is the model, in a sense that that's what I look up to is like, they're, they're sassy. It's cool if it, like, if you're able to make like, a clever joke that's like, generally, like, punching up. Like I said, dumbing it up, not dumbing it down. Right. Like, which. Which I think actually perfectly describes what I think is the ideal Twitter strategy. Like, you want to dump dumb it up. Like, and if you can make, like, a clever joke. And, And Wendy's was excellent. That, and Wendy's was like the smallest one relative to the size of the other fast food chains. And that was one of the reasons that they originally went down this path was like, we've got to be different and be interesting.
And it. And it's. And you have to, like, really toe the line between, like, being interesting and clever and fun and not being just too, you know, just like, I, I, for me, if they're just not clever, then they just seem mean spirited, I think is actually the most basic way to put it.
Then you're just like, why even post that, right?
The, The. The astronomer CEO thing. For me, what was, like, fascinating about that is the reaction.
So I believe, like, if they had just been like, hey, like, it wouldn't have gotten any attention. But the fact that, like, they reacted the way that they did is what I think kicked all of that off.
And I don't even know if, like, you know, I had never even heard of that company. So I think that that's the main thing is that it just was such a, like, crazy reaction. Oh, and then what. Chris Martin from Coldplay called out on stage.
So, like, they kind of got hot. So I kind of think it, for the most part, whoever that was that was gonna happen because. Because he goes like, whoa, are those people cheating? Or something like that. Like, because, like, it was just so obvious.
It is an interesting, like, cultural moment, though, the way that these things happen. Like, I think. I think they're just endlessly fascinating.
[00:53:56] Speaker C: Yeah, no, totally.
But, yeah, no, I think it's interesting because I think, like, with Wendy's, they're able to.
I mean, I think you put it pretty well. Like, they are able to be funny and edgy without being too mean. Like, they're a little Bit mean, but it's usually funny as well. Like, some people are just mean on there, and it really doesn't go very far.
I know a lot of people will. Will build an audience by basically making an enemy. Maybe not even a specific person, but, like, you know, they'll talk about how their competitors are terrible for whatever reason, and that can work, but, like, it also can get old and it can just be.
I. I think also one thing is some of the. The bigger influencers will constantly make enemies, and then it turns off other people from working with them because, like, okay, well, I don't want to get involved in this person with this person because, like, if I. If I slight them, will they come after me next and make me animosity and conflict?
[00:54:59] Speaker B: I. I definitely, like, not. I don't find that to be something I want to be a part. And there's certain people where, like, it just seems to become their whole.
Their whole thing.
[00:55:07] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:55:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Having, like, fights and just getting in conflicts and stuff with people.
[00:55:12] Speaker C: Exactly. And I think, yeah, some people, like, I've had to resist the urge to, like, insert myself in those because there was even one guy yesterday who was going viral for being. You know, people were calling him out for something, and I had had a couple phone calls with him, so I was like, oh, like, should I weigh in? But I'm like, I don't really have actually anything to say. Say, basically some guy who was, like, accused of ripping off a bunch of deciders. You probably saw it, but he.
Right.
It was funny because, like, listening, like, reading him, like, oh, I know him, but I don't know.
[00:55:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I. That's really interesting. I.
I must write, like, 100 tweets a day that I delete. Like, I just go. It just doesn't feel right for whatever. For whatever reason. I always joke, like, it'd be awesome to have a feed of that somewhere else that you could find.
And I. I generally, too, for me, like, I just try to stay with, like, current events, current news.
Like, try not to make it too personal and try to, like, come up with, like, a funny angle at least where I think is. Is funny. Because there is, like, a lot of personal stuff out there, too, on. On X that just, like, I don't really want.
I don't ever want to be a part of. Right.
And it can get. And it can get kind of ugly.
Paul, do you have anything you want to look at for the last. We got a couple more minutes here.
[00:56:26] Speaker A: Do you want to look at White House account?
[00:56:29] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I looked earlier.
Yeah, we had that on the list of, like, meme accounts. Like, they've turned the White House account into a meme account. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about it.
[00:56:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I know a lot of people enjoy it.
[00:56:44] Speaker B: I want to be supportive of memes. Right. And then I was like, is this really the one that should be a meme account now? Like, I'm not. I don't know. I don't know. Right.
Which one? Oh, we had the. The VC Brags one was a good one, too.
So for people that don't know this account.
So. So do you know the story behind this account?
[00:57:07] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I, I know him.
[00:57:09] Speaker B: Oh, you know them. So is it, Is it true that it's Jason Calcanis behind this?
[00:57:14] Speaker C: No, it's not. It's not Jason.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: Is that what Jason said, though, on a podcast?
[00:57:19] Speaker C: I think he was.
Yeah. Was that a joke?
Yeah, I think it was a joke. Like, I think they know each other. So I think. And I think he has, like, suggested things to post, but, no, he doesn't.
[00:57:30] Speaker B: I thought it was. So the story I had, I swear to God, I'm like, I could be totally wrong. I thought, like, he said that he originally hired and paid for this account, that that was the initial. That's how it got started.
Are you saying you don't think that's true?
[00:57:48] Speaker C: I'm, like, almost positive it's not. I'll.
I'll ask and I'll get back to you. But I, like, I, I've never heard that. I, I know the guy behind it, like, pretty well, so I don't think so. Like, I think Jason, he def. I mean, Jason, they definitely know each other, and I think they.
[00:58:04] Speaker B: I mean, at the highest level, I, I, I, I like Jason's support of it. I think that's pretty cool.
[00:58:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Jason embraces the mem.
He's. I've made fun of him from accounts, and he'll, like, repost it, which is pretty cool. That's awesome. Yeah, I think he's. He's pretty cool with, like. It's funny because I think Chamath is, like, the opposite. He will not allow any jokes about himself and has blocked almost anyone who's made fun of him, which I think is just, you know, it's a bad move because then you get more. You get, like, the actual hate like this. I think the things that people make fun of Jason for. Very mild, because, like, I was making fun of him for, for basically, I mean, the classic thing is just him mentioning that he was an early investor in Uber constantly.
But it's something that's not anywhere near the worst thing in the world to be made fun of for. Because.
But yeah, then chamath. People are, like, way meaner because they know it'll get a negative reaction out of him.
[00:59:01] Speaker A: Besides. Besides those two, who are the most friendly to memes, who are the whole worst?
Besides.
[00:59:11] Speaker C: Yeah, there's.
Let's see, who are the other ones that were. I mean, in some ways, I think Mark Cuban is.
Well, I guess some people disagree, but I think if it's not about politics, he actually does embrace it. Like, okay, so he's like, on Sora, he made himself into a, you know, cameo, so anyone can make fun of him when he was reposting. So I think if you're making fun of him for business stuff, he's actually pretty good about going with a joke. Not the best. And I think, yeah, with politics, he was, like, getting way more offended and blocking people for that.
I'm trying to think who are the other, like, big. I mean, I think.
Let me think.
[01:00:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:02] Speaker C: I don't know. I mean, I guess Mark Andreessen does not really like to be made fun of.
He. I mean, he does like. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he blocks, like, absolutely everyone. And I think you can, you know, see that all the time. That people.
That everyone posted their screenshots being blocked by him.
[01:00:21] Speaker B: I love the small accounts that are like, they're. They're just kind of like, accounts, and they're like, what did I do? What did I say?
[01:00:27] Speaker A: A lot.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: Like, they're like, I went over there, all of a sudden I realized I'm blocked. They're like, what did I do? Right. I've had a few of those where I was like, I stumbled someone's account. I was like, like what? Like, I don't think anything I post is that bad, but.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: Right.
[01:00:39] Speaker C: Exactly. Yeah. And I. I think people like him just use the. Use it as, like, mute, basically. Like, if they see one tiny thing that they don't love, they block.
[01:00:47] Speaker B: Yeah. There's some amount of content they don't enjoy or. Which is fine. Yeah.
[01:00:50] Speaker C: Yeah. And I. I mean, I think the mute thing feature is a little more appropriate for that because that's like. Like, yeah, you won't see them on your feed, but they won't know. But whatever. I think naval is one too that blocks people constantly. Like, if you critique him. Right.
It's funny. There's, I mean, way more coming to mind that that hate to be wrong. So, like, Keith. Keith from Open Door. You can see him arguing on X constantly and blocking people.
It's funny. Like, all the examples I could think of are people who.
[01:01:28] Speaker B: You're saying, like, who supports memes. Like, dude, yeah, I would have to go for Elon. Like, he actually bought X and that even. That was kind of a meme. Like, they made him buy it, of course. And then they constantly. Like, I would. He. Like, without it, like, it there, it wouldn't exist. Or without him, it wouldn't exist. Right. So, like, you know, like, people are hot and cold with him, but I think, like, he's probably the number one meme billionaire.
[01:01:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess. Yeah, for sure. I think. I guess there's a difference between, like, the ones who embrace memes versus embrace memes of themselves. Of them. I can't really think either way of Elon. Like, if he's. I guess he's. I don't know, he's not like, super negative on people making fun of him. But also, I don't feel like he embraces being made fun of much. So I don't know, he's somewhere in the middle on that one.
But yeah, like, it's funny because, I mean, so many of the billionaires will be on there. Like, they just don't.
They would never post anything. Hubris.
I mean, like Michael Dell, for example, he follows the John Rich account, but he. I don't know. I don't even know why he does because I feel like I've never seen him interact with anything.
He just kind of posts updates about Dell or whatever.
Yeah, right.
[01:02:45] Speaker B: There's. There's. There are. I mean, that was kind of the. Like, we don't have time to discuss this. We can have you back on again. But, like, Like, I. I think that, like, Dell's a good example where there was a time where business leaders didn't embrace this kind of stuff at all. Right. And I think, like, you look at this new crop of leaders, it's a totally different game. Maybe Elon was one of the first people to do that. But now with, like, you know, Carp and Palantir, and they've got the new CEO of Opendoor, like, it is a whole new world out there. And even I had to get. I mean, I'm. I'm not that young, right? So I had to even get comfortable with, like, this is just the new world. And, like, the kids buying those stocks on Robin are, like, 27 years old, and they think this stuff is awesome. Like, they love that Alex Carp is like, whatever you do with the sword in that interview yesterday, like, they. They embrace all that stuff. Like, it's kind of where things have. Have gone. Right. And that's how I. I look at it, you know, and like, Michael Dell's from, like, my generation where.
Wasn't necessarily how you communicated back then.
[01:03:44] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, I'll.
Yeah, it's. It's interesting. And I even feel like I'm now not at the.
On the cutting edge of it because I'm. Well, I'm 31, so I'm like, there's definitely now a younger group that, like, I don't quite understand, which is kind of weird.
Like, even. Well, one last story I'll tell is I was. I worked with WAP for a while.
Like, the.
The App Marketplace. Yeah, they're really great. But, yeah, I visited their office and I was like, the youngest or the oldest person there, which felt kind of weird.
Like, every person there was like, 25.
So, yeah, there's like, definitely a new.
A crop of, like, the Gen Z founders, which. Yeah, I feel like I don't. I'm quite. I'm like, on the outside looking in on what they're posting. Like, when Cluly first came up, I was like, what the hell is going on here?
[01:04:43] Speaker B: Excellent. All right, should we end?
[01:04:46] Speaker C: This is awesome.
Yeah.
