welcome to Glide chat where we give you the rundown of all things service now let's talk about the now right [Music] now welcome to another episode of Glide chat my name is Mike Lombardo I'm with Ryan Smith the service now Global Alliance director at own formerly known as own backup just just shorten it up to own right right own own your own own your own own your data Baby Ryan how long have we known each other now you know what good question I would guess 10 years close yeah yeah because it was it was at a core like when I was before I even started Glide fast right oh yeah I remember having your business card Mike Lombardo Coro business card yeah that's crazy that that was the partner I was at before Glide fast and I still had thank God I got a wherever that screenshot came from where I had like the first three followers of Glide fast on LinkedIn and you're one of them that's like proof like you have you have proof for life that you were supporting us when we were like nothing so you know I just want to take this time to like first of all thank you for being like you know a a colleague a partner all that but like we've really grown into I hope you feel the same way I know you do friends and um you just like been a really great friend and we've been rooting for each other and you know we've watched each other grow and I'm so happy for where you're at I'm so happy for where I am in Glide fast is at and uh it's exciting times it really is yeah no man I call you brother Mike man because you're like a brother to me I love you man for real I love you too it's crazy I mean um yeah so so I want to hear a little bit about your journey you've gone from uh you know a couple different companies over the years in the service now space or you know I I think you were at a company that was like leaning into the service now space and and you you just always have been this like Ambassador like in every position you've had in all these different companies you've always just kind of like been an ambassador uh you know like I don't want to say I don't want to use the word Alliance but like you've always just kind of been this middleman almost of like you know connecting the people with the companies um but yeah talk talk to me a little bit about your journey so I mean let's see I guess to to date myself so I'm 50 years old right so I've been making relationships all my life for yeah five decades now and I've you know when you're this old you have chapters in your life right so I mean I went through a period after college where I was kind of entrepreneur like you um actually was nominated for erns young um Entre for a company I started in college that was a travel company right that's wild we used to travel it kind of started out when I was in high school I was you know the ASB president of my school and I organized my senior class trip right to Mexico yeah and I kind of turned that into a business like I I did it for my class but then my buddy was the class president at the sister school so I helped him and next thing you know we had like our whole County go on this trip to Mexico for our grad trip and the next year I went to college and when I was in college I was in this entrepreneurship program and they were like hey you got to start a business and write a business plan so I wrote a business plan to do that started this company called international student tours we became like the biggest student travel company on the west coast and traveled like five 10,000 students like to all over the place you know Hawaii and graduation trips and then we broke into senior spring break trips and we started doing you know winter ski trips and yada yada and um when that kind of ran its course um I ended up getting into music and became like a professional keyboard player right and um like toured around the world and played keyboards for like everyone from like um I was in you know working with bands like you know Willie Nelson Buddy Guy I was Thomas rett's first keyboard player that's wild I left Seattle flew to Nashville audition for Thomas Rhett I'm the country singer now I've been in Nashville for 10 years I became his first keyboard player so um while I was kind of doing that I got a call from my buddy from high school who was a musician um my my brother's best buddy and he was like hey what do you do when you're not touring I was like look for work you know I mean teach lessons I don't know he's like hey there's this conference knowledge coming up um would you come to the booth and just kind of help me and you know and I said yeah so I flew to Vegas and went to knowledge like in I don't know 2014 or 15 maybe and so here we are it's going to be my I think my 10th knowledge coming up here next week wow wow but when I was working with him I started thinking oh what a this is a cool community and a cool technology and started kind of get more on the alliance like you said relationship side of everything I'm I'm not a technical guy I'm I'm a musician you know yeah I love people I love technology but I'm not technical right yeah um not a developer exactly Y and um have a ton of respect for those guys and our CEO Tom Watson he was a at a company it's called Ami asset managi Y and their their their Tech was their technology partner called asset track and so it's kind of like Hardware Asset Management this is before hamro came out barcode RFID tracking all your Hardware inside of service now and at the time all of his customers he had big customers like United Airlines Kaiser Permanente but they're all in HP and all these Legacy you know systems and so the first thing was like let's get all this customer base and move these guys over to service now which yeah was great for everybody right yep um so I kind of worked off and on for him and playing music for like seven years right right wow and that um and then my brother was like Hey I'm you know I'm involved in this new startup on the COO used to come over and help and be our cro and it was basically a data protection company that did like application security testing inside of Salesforce right that's right so I went over to the Salesforce ecosystem for a short stint working with Digis and right away I realized like hey a big part of that partner would be partnering with someone like own backup who at the time was a startup as well wow a lot of those best practices are thinking hey you want to you want to develop your code you want to test your code and make sure there's no availability so hackers can't come in and penetrate the cloud and steal all your data but you want you want to back up that stuff first right yeah yeah and then go your Dev Dev SEC Ops process yeah and once it's all cleaned up then you want to back up at clean org y you're not doing garbage in garbage out so we partner with own and I part and met with a guy named Matt Kennedy it owned backup and and I kind of watched own so we got our first customer crowd strike right which is a big win for us and they signed this big that was own that was own or Digis oh Digis yeah okay so we landed our first customer crowd strike and the first thing they asked us when they bought our technology was you guys do this for service now as well right oh yeah yeah that's when it was kind of like oh wow this I mean not just Salesforce needs this tech service now needs to you know clean their code and do application security test ing as well um and so that kind of stuck in the back of my head there it is yeah we partner with own and um I watched own go from you know One customer to 10 to a th000 to 4,000 to 7,000 I just watch this company just go crazy like crazy it was an absolute musthave this is a rocket ship of a company and everyone needs their technology and um because kind of the myth is like Hey we're in the cloud our dat is safe right yeah no zero trust you got to have it's zero trust like you know as much as I trust service now like the data centers like I've never seen them lose data I've never I've only seen rare short stint outages and that's like you know I've re very very very really seen it in production but you just never it's zero trust you you don't have the option to not do it right I mean to not back it up in a separate system it's like you know I think people are good inherently but I still lock my door at night you know what I mean like there's a thing called the shared responsibility model which basically say like hey you know service Nows they're like the landlords they need to make sure the foundation isn't crack the roof doesn't leak but if you leave the doors unlocked and the windows open someone comes in and steals all your stuff that's on you not service now yeah and you just never know with like you know catastrophes you know I remember on um I did a podcast with Jessica before and like we were like you nobody ever expected covid to hit right like you just it's just you better being safe than sorry especially you know with with great power comes great responsibility it's the same reason why like you need the right partner to implement service now just because you bought service now doesn't mean it's gonna work just the way you need it to it needs to be configured and personalized the right way and just because service now is the best in you know uptime and 59 and protecting your data and security doesn't mean you you don't have a backup plan and um and and I guess it's really even not a it's it's a backup plan but it it shouldn't be your backup right it shouldn't be in the back seat it should be part of your you know your right right in front right right up front well yeah we all have third we all have third party Cloud backups for all of our pictures on our phone our laptop most people have a spare key to their car right why should it be different with your data true I like that backing up your phone I like that I never thought of that I think own initially back in the day the original founder Ariel was they were going to back up like um things like Twitter and these consumer accounts right W and then um it ended up you know Sam Gutman and ory came in and they end up shifting into like business apps like because it's regulatory now it's it's a it's by so and then so how did you get how did you get like interview with them like how did you get that so I was at Digis and then so when when I finished with that basically I was had some time off and I noticed that own uh was putting on LinkedIn about service now and it caught my eye and my brother called own backup up and was like dude if you want to go into service now you got to call my my little brother man he's like knows everybody and he can totally like you said Ambassador into the ecosystem and so um they called me and I was in San Francisco and and it's it's a funny story because it it was like you know I put in a little bit of M Mike Lombardo hustle style to get this job to the point to where it's I was uh you know it was right after the pandemic and it was the first in-person event since the pandemic it was the New York world or I guess the New York knowledge right for the most yeah yeah and um I noticed that you were having of course that big rooftop um party at Hudson yards yeah in and and I hadn't seen you guys in person since the pandemic and I was like oh that'd be awesome to see Mike and everyone so to be honest I was going over there as well like okay I'll go over there and do this interview with own and then I'll go over and um go see Glide fast and interview over there too you know yeah because you know I'm ready to get to work again and yeah so I went and did the interview and um at the interview I was uh actually bragging about you and your company and and my hiring managers was you know Mitch Matt Kennedy and Jessica wine yeah and um I said hey after this actually I'm going over to this rooftop Happy Hour Bar you guys should come and I had told him about that before and own was already trying to break into the ecosystem and they were doing it you know just gorilla style shout out Jessica for that I mean I'll tell my side of the same story after I continue yeah so they had had people deployed all over the streets stuff with like own your now shirts right and it was the same colors as service now's recent rebranding yeah so here I am like you know and all of us we're like what's and again like you said it's our first like inperson like fake knowledge it wasn't it was knowledge but it really you know it's not not like it not like a real knowledge and we're seeing all these t-shirts these people like who what is this own your own your now like like what is this and then they infested my party and then like well so they found out about the party for me because I sent them a an invite just and it was intended just for the three hiring managers working with and they fled out to the whole team and they're on the streets giving out free trips to Hawaii and just trying to get on the map and just be disruptive right yeah um which I respect you know yeah oh 100% And but nonetheless I didn't know that they were all invited to the party too and didn't really know that was going on so I finished my interview and I said hey well let's walk over to the party and I remember getting up to the top of the roof and walking in and first of all obviously it was packed um I remember Eric was there and stuff he had just come on yeah Tom Han it was the party was it was a great party yeah and um and I remember looking over and seeing all those shirts like 20 people like kind of piled in the corner and I was like okay this is strange what's going on here and um at that point the interview was over and I think they had 22 more people in interview for this role like you know the next week and um so at that point I was like I want to catch up with the Glide folks I remember bumping into Lauren and she's like hey great to see we we was good to see each other we hugged and I was she's like are these people with you like what's going on here you these guys and and I didn't really know what to say because I'm in the interview process I didn't want to like be the guy that crashed your party and I wasn't that that guy but but this is what the company I was hoping to work for right yeah and um man I got to give it to you Mike your endorsement when that whole thing went down got me the job just pretty much hired me on the spot when I still can't believe that cuz I you know what's so funny is I remember the whole thing because I was first of all we were at Max Capacity there was a line around the corner you know and people waiting for the elevator they're telling me we can't have any more people finally like yeah I I I think it was either Lauren or I might have said it to you too like Ryan what are you doing to me buddy you were like hey what's up it's like like who are these people dude and then Lauren's like hey if you want to sponsor like you want to be sponsor like yeah we could we could do it but but um then and then you introduced me to Jessica and and um you know I'm like are these people with you whatever and like you're not messing around like I don't know who you are I don't know what you do like you're here like dude it was my life on the line because I was going for this job and super excited about it and I wasn't sure if I was how what that was GNA how that was going to turn out it was kind of a it was either you were going to throw us out of the party and say dude we you had clients down you were like dude I got clients downstairs in the lobby who can't get here because you got 20 people here and we're at over capacity and I remember when we when I left the interview I was going through and I think I I brought you up and was bragging about you and said hey this is michae Lombardo he's called the mayor of service now he's the one hosting this party tonight and I showed a picture in my interview I had like kind of a slide deck yeah and Jess walked over and says let me see and she looked at that picture and then we Mitch and Matt and I left for the party just had to go to to her room and she said I'll meet you at the party yeah Jess gets to the lobby to get to the party it's sold out they won't they over capacity on fire code they wouldn't let anyone up and then she sees you and she's like I know you you're Michael Lombardo so she knew that from the picture in the interview right so you let her up to the party right that's right yeah and so then you guys came up and then you started walking around realizing like what's going on here so we had that kind of Showdown was like you and I and Jess and um you're like hey if you want to be a sponsor that's cool but just talk to us don't come here she's like oh we're going to do we're going to sponsor don't worry about that negotiating right there yeah yeah she's like don't worry don't worry about that yeah and then I I don't know what she said something about you and I was just like that's my guy like yeah whatever or I said something like you're okay because you're with Ryan or something yeah well what you said was like I may have to kick you guys out of here she's like well we want to sponsor with you guys at knowledge she's like he's like you go we're having a huge party of knowledge but you said Ryan can go but you guys aren't going she's like no we want a sponsor you and then you looked at me you said can she write a check I said oh yeah she's she's running the show here and then so you guys sat there and Shook on a deal remember yeah oh yeah so this coming knowledge will be our third year in a row W that's wild that's what I know it's been such dude it's been such a great partnership and it's not because it's like the technology worked or because it's Kumbaya service now stuff it's it's really you and Jessica have just been like you guys became friends I mean you've been friends longer but like fun to work with you and and and her and like there's no BS like we're hard workers you just got off a flight from Ireland on service now what was it a work a now at work A World Tour was it was a service now Dublin Summit wow I mean like that's that's what I'm talking about like there's no excuses in you know building a company running a company interacting with so many people and you know projects and all this you just you work with a lot of people and you quickly realize like who are the hard workers who isn't and you realize like who are the frustrating people that you don't want to work with you know there things like that and it's like for me there's nothing more that I I respect than like someone who just works their ass off I don't care if I'd rather I've said this from the beginning at GL house by the way I'd rather have somebody who puts in the extra effort who wants it more who's more hungry than somebody who's the best architect in the whole world or whatever consultant and they know it all and you know they're they don't need to learn anything house or they don't they're better than everybody like it's just not it's it's not people I want to work with you know yeah well you you talk about relationships and that kind of stuff and just to let you know how influential you have been um so you guys you guys you said we can talk right now and figure this out so you guys talked for about five minutes and I'm and I'm not even part of your company or her company I'm just there on a you know just finished an interview at this point I'm a civilian you know um and then you guys Shook on a deal and you said okay cool I'll see it knowledge and we'll talk later and you walked off and she looked at me she's like all right you're hired and I was just like holy smoke like I just got hired because of Mike's endorsement like I didn't I just met Jess you know that day for the first time and a couple hours ago that's wild now because of you endorsing me at that moment teach turn around says you're hired we're going to make this work and figure it out we're going to FastTrack this because we need you a knowledge next week and um yeah so and I want congratulations man congratulations I went in the bathroom mic and broke down in tears man no shut up you g make me cry right now oh man I was just like I couldn't believe it and so I I remember seeing you a year later and told you that story and you like you serious you didn't even realize that you know that no I didn't know because I did it like I did kind of like a drop the mic thing like I I said something like as long as you got this guy here or something I'm you're okay yeah you said dude if yeah you basically endorse yeah and then and then and then um the next year I think you came to Glide Fest right you were the only person that doesn't didn't work at Glide fast oh GL Fest yeah I came to glest in Big Sky it was incredible man you know I feel like too like we got closer over the last oh obviously we got way closer over the last few years and like you coming to Glide Fest was like I didn't realize how cool that was going to be you know what I mean like you brought your guitar didn't you like playing guitar wow middle of nowhere Montana what who would have thought right yeah and the way you you structured that to where it's like hey this this is a work trip but I want everyone there's way more time to hang and just bond with people we got together in the morning would have breakfast and talk for a little bit and then from noon on it was like we're all hanging out and that's what I just B with like you know 700 people from the company all day long biking around I mean just all around Big Sky 8,000 feet above sea level Big Sky of Montana people thought I was crazy and I might have been but like people like a couple of my people and I still I give them I give them uh I use this as an example and I I throw it in kind of throw it in their face a little bit it's like when we talked about Big Sky Montana for Glide Fest people were like Mike what are you doing like where's the Vegas where's the party where like why are we going to Mont this is gonna be a big mistake people are gonna be like the the fact that there were no Vegas strip there were no clubs there were no like there was Billy a bar you know alcohol there was a millions of stars at night you could see there was millions of stars and then like each other the people you met on the shuttle going through like that beautiful scenery to get up there and I mean it it was bonding I mean that was the best thing we could have done and that's and that's another thing it's kudos to Apex for like you know because they had just acquired us and they're like you're doing what you're spending what the whole company like not just High performers or high performers whatever that is and like that I'm like I'm like yes this is this is how this is why Glide fast is special because we invest in each other we invest in the culture cult we we build these relationships we're a remote company I mean we have to we don't have that face Toof face interaction you know you need to do it yeah you know I call this It's a Wonderful Life exercise right have you seen the show It's a Wonderful Life Jimmy Stewart the Christmas film yeah um and like the exercises it's like you know had had you never been born right where would I be me you'd be Mike had you never been born I own no no no no it just yeah no I can't think you can't think like that that's no that's just how that you have to like take a person like yourself or people in your life and say had I never met this person how would my life be different and that's that's it's a heavy thing to do but it's real That's Heavy That's Heavy That's Heavy yeah I can't do that people that had you never been born all the people me and then everyone else what where would their life be and you know Jimmy Stewart gets to go around and see all these people who are so successful who in inadvertently because of him having all these blessings in their life that aren't even there and he's looking going holy smoke and he's like seeing like where they are because he was never born and so I so maybe I didn't see this movie I thought I was I thinking of something totally different so I never is it a movie or a show it's a movie they play it every year around holiday time I got I gotta watch that super influential guy and he goes through this hard time and he's he stops he says man I wish I was never born so they give him the gift to know what his life would have been like had he never been born and then send him back out in the world and he gets to see like all the people that aren't where they are because he wasn't there to help them get there you know what though I maybe that's like a defense mechanism that I do but like I tend to think whether maybe it's not true because you're you're disagree with me kind of but like I'm not the needle mover on people like I I may add like a little bit of like grease on the wheel or something but like I'm not the wheel you know what I mean like I can't do the work for you or for like you know all the people that Glide fast all the customers and stuff it's like well I'm just a connection yeah we're all cing the whe but you take one of those out and that's the whole point it just doesn't work yeah yeah yeah and it's it could be the same who knows for you too I mean you know I the Glide fast may not be where it is today you know you if you weren't that f one of the first followers and you know supporting us on every event I mean like you were just always you're you're at every single service now event I mean forget about own backup Ami every company you're at every event I showed up at you're there big smile on your face networking you know you're really similar to me because my my value I always I came to realize in the first few years of Glide fast once I started especially once I started transitioning out of like the consultant role in in development is I'm just I my gift was connecting people just kind of like what we're talking about like I I would like meet a customer talk to them hear their challenges and I'd be like oh my God I got this great architect right here who I think you'd get along with who's an expert in CSM I know they're going to solve your problems you know like that's that's where and I'm still doing that today like now I'm connect I meet people and I'm like I'm like dude your job your career your life will be better here at Glide fast like I just this is somewhere you're gonna Thrive and you know it's it's it's it's crazy and and it helps everyone I mean even like I mean there's competitors in the ecosystem but that networking honestly helps everyone oh yeah it's like you get out there I mean first of all networking is a four-letter word work you know yeah people think oh networking alliances oh you just go out and hang out and it's like you do it right you're exhausted they're 18 hour days you know oh man yeah I know I I look at some of the now some of the pictures are coming back of knowledge like around May of like you know over the years and I just like I always take a picture every night of like when I get back into the room to change usually just to change into my next outfit or whatever and just the piles of business cards and like casino chips and like my cards other people it's just like it is really exhausting but where did you learn the power of networking from where can you can you take it back to somewhere specific I figured it out I've kind of TR traced it back you know finally because people have asked me you know like hey you should do a seminar how do you I've had to think like what would I say and like how you know what what's what's the methodology right besides being the first there the last to leave and putting in the work and all that but there's it's more than that it's it's it's about it's about culture it's about character um but you know I learned the skills that I got as a survival skill you know I was born on a military base Tacoma Air Force Base in Tacoma Washington and my dad was in the Air Force and then he got transferred to Del Rio Texas when I was like five and then we moved to Carolton and we moved to great fine Texas and then Carolton Texas and then I moved to Dallas Texas and then I you know had to change schools again and so it's like as a kid you know you're growing up and as soon as you start to meet everyone I mean every every school's an a school's like an ecosystem right oh I know you don't tell me schools got their own culture and the got their own influencers and then as soon as I would kind of figure out the game and who's who and how to navigate around I'd have to move and start over again and I remember laying in bed as a kid going oh I've got to be that new guy again I hat it and start over and then I get comfortable and then I have to move again so I I started to become an expert of like winning over ecosystems a kid like you know how not to get beat up you know you know just basic stuff you know don't be jerk and you know be respectful and that kind of stuff but yeah but also if you want to Excel and become a leader and and you know you have to be humble and you have to develop these skills that people want to choose you to be put in a position the leadership and stuff and so as a kid I would learn those things I think inate faster and faster every time I moved at the points where I moved to Seattle Washington it happened even faster and um and then I went to you know college and then from there I got to the point to where it's like well I've really got this I'm comfortable with this I'm you know you go to these events and you don't know anyone in the room but everyone else is in the same boat so the harder you work you're helping them so if you're meeting people and engaging and kind of starting that process it just gets the ball rolling and you're kind of putting people together they're paying good money their company spending a ton money to send them there too so you're helping them do their job they're winning you're winning everyone wins together it kind of it creates this environment and I think that you know I remember I read a book like I'm you know I'm not real technical I'm a musician but I don't read music so I play by ear I don't read books I don't that's crazy you know but same thing it's like I did read one book like in junior high or something but it was that Dell Carnegie How to Win Friends and influenced people book yeah yeah yeah I've heard of it never read I think the first chapter is like don't criticize condemn or complain right y yeah so it's like just basic stuff like that staying positive keeping a positive attitude and yeah it's huge kind of having those uh just having those Quivers in your feather about when you're operating out there in the real world they they don't they help you they don't hurt you you know so you you shoot yourself in the foot so easily if you don't just do basic stuff you know yeah and then there's some is it's spoton it's funny because I'm just hearing so many similarities um and I remember you telling me some some of the stuff too but um yeah there's some stuff you can't complain right there's always gonna be that jerk that you know wants to shove you in a locker or whatever right but but like if you if you do certain things like You're Gonna you know you're gonna make friends you're gonna and like it's funny you say about the school thing I never I never put two and two together with me and my my childhood or whatever my high school I went to four different high schools in three years you know I never I never I never saw my senior year I never saw 12th grade wow um but uh and and and I didn't move around necessarily but I kept getting you getting in trouble kicked out of school whatever having to go to a different one and uh yeah I had to make new friends like everywhere and I was like sick and I got sick of being the new guy after a while but um did I want to know if you noticed this did every you said every school's like a ecosystem right which I totally agree with did you like feel like they were the same characters at every school school like there was always like the personas what the certain personas is like yeah like I don't want to say I I don't mean it I don't mean like a head like a captain of the football team but like there was always like a captain of the football team there was always like a uh you know had like just like these different like like the goth kids like this you know like there was always the brown noser this yeah like yeah like the overachiever yeah like it's it that to me that's I really by my last my fourth High School I was exhausted I feel like I graduated high school like 10 times because I'm like like you know just like just like you like I went there knew got a lot of friends met everybody you know did what I had to do with grades and teachers and it's like I gotta do this again it's like I've already done this you know what I mean I'm on to the next and I I think that's probably why I everything I kind of started young is just because I entered the workforce so young I I entered my first you know professional corporate job was I was 19 years old doing answer on the help desk you know so I When My Friends by the time my friends graduated college I was on my like I was on my second career like professional you know career and six years experience already five years experience you know you're not even 40 yet right no 37 I think wow because you are advanced man and it's funny that's probably what pushed you kind of leap frogged you into being more mature in that leadership position is those things it's survival like you it's similar to you survival like I didn't have I didn't I my parents didn't have a lot of money a single family home I lost my stuff I was younger it's like it's not that I was like homeless but like I had and I wanted it too like my mother instilled in me like you better be successful like that's you know it's you know it's kind of like it all right if you don't if you're not going to graduate high school like you better figure something out you know because I'm not I can't support you even if I wanted to you know wow yeah so you never graduated from high school and now never yeah GED GED and that program year up which is why like that's another Foundation I'll support for the rest of my life they saved my life like I wish the go and I just I was just talking to um my friend Greg's he's uh he's the head of um shut up Greg he's he's on on the board of Europe alumni um they they don't get any money from the government it's I which I cannot believe it's it's basically for those who don't know Europe up is a program that's it it pays students it's it's a oneye it's not Europe Europe it's a one-year program it pay the whole time six months schooling you learn a hard skill like technical finance and then they give you an internship and it's basically on you like there's no hand out but they give you an opportunity they they give they teach you they give you an internship and by the way they pay you the whole time and you get college credits and you get an opportunity to to go down that road if you want to but um like and it's heavily focused on Urban Youth and like I cannot believe that this organization the amount of success it has that the government isn't supporting this like I just like that's the type of program I think the government would want to go all in on of just like it's because it's not it's teaching people how to fish it's not just giving a handout like to me that I'd rather see something like this over some of the initiatives around like um you know welfare and stuff like that because there no better you know people want to learn people want to you know fish on their own that's why I'll support them forever because that s that program saved my life you know I was headed down who knows what if you talk about something that didn't exist that I could get on board with if year up if Gerald did not start that that program with the other Founders I would definitely not be here right like that is um so that's a program I just donated 50,000 to them last year and I hope to be able to do that again you know this year in in Forever you know it's just an amazing program yeah so you were talking about like praising the Bridget carries you basically and I was thinking of like some you know when I go to these conferences even still today or you know I'll be in a new city I never been to and I'm by myself representing own or and going to a show in the morning and it's like I get these butterflies to this day you know even still it's like me too I I feel the butterflies and it's just and I just remind myself take a deep breath it's overwhelming and meet who you're supposed to meet right yeah that's how I think about it and I remember like when I was the new kid at the school like how grateful I was to the first people who took me in right yeah and I thinking and I remember uh and maybe they're not the type of person that you would have ever met or thought you had a lot in common with but you have so much gratitude to that person it's like man when I was a new kid for the first two weeks when I was just scared and didn't know anyone this person like was like by my side like showing me around helping me out and then meeting new friends that are you have more in common with yeah like and becom in a different click but I would never forget like never forget that yeah you that's wild that's wild yeah that's um yeah I still get those butterflies too I freaking it's killing me I can't go this sh but well we'll see maybe maybe maybe I'll end up there I don't know but but um yeah I I still get it man and I just like that's when I'm the most alive you know what I mean it's like it's like oh man we got this I got five dinners tonight I gotta meet with this person the part's later we got to do this I gotta S I got to make this little speech like it's just nothing it's it's overwhelming a lot of times and sometimes I'm like man am I doing too much it's like I love it you know just like being Courtside Celtics games just like it's just like my Mo it's like my happy place you know it's funny I was on the plane last night and turns out the guy sitting next to me is like the senior security analyst for being why melan and he lives in Ireland he's from um s Paulo Brazil yeah and um he was going back to sollo to visit his family he's been at be white melon for like seven years or something and uh we were talking about stuff and I was going through trying to show him a picture we were talking about cars or and I went through and show him your car actually you know um all the one we took together yeah yeah and then and then I was looking for a picture of my brother's dog and long story short I ran across that video of you on the on the floor at the Celtics game you know and you were like oh man and Paul Pierce is there and he's like yo give me some five like oh shoot you know that was the best man that that is my childhood hero that's why life is so crazy because yeah went viral for leaving Paul Pierce hanging like NBA Finals court side like this was like one of my games we in the fast shirt just just got acquired you know uh Celtics you know it's the CL a Celtics logo with the Glide fat yeah and I just made those shirts too shout out Colleen shout out Colleen she made that logo greatt um and clover on there and stuff yeah the Clover yeah the the Celtics Clover and like end up going out with Paul Pierce that night like partying and everything like it's like it's just so crazy like could all I could think about was when I was 14 13 12 years old like chering Paul Paris from the from the nose bleeds you know and like that's my favorite player you know so it's I love they call him the you know I never knew they called him the truth until that video and I thought so cool is like you're the truth man like you're a real guy like one of the reasons that attracted me to you is like I love Italian I love Italian food it's my favorite food in the world yeah I love Italian people because they're truthful and like transparent like if they don't like you and you're out toally honest yeah tell you and if you're doing good they'll tell you hey you're doing good and like I don't like being in the dark I like being around people who kind of let me know where they're at yeah me too and uh and you you do that like you walk the halls and say hi to people and give shouts out and I remember like uh before I love it I remember when you you had you had just decided you or you in the process of starting Glide fast I don't think You' started it yet you had left the Coro and I'd seen you for like the second or third time it was like 2015 New York snug remember we went to the and we were in a I can't remember where there it was by the Wall Street area remember yeah yeah well they they had a well well it was well there was one there was one that GL has sponsored at the wall trading room floor but was this this wasn't it was it no two years before that down to Wall Street wasn't at the stock exchange it was further down Wall Street like in some room and you would you had already made up your mind but weren't telling anyone including me yeah like hey and you told me in the hall I'm doing this thing and I'm you're gonna hear about it like let's go it's gonna be awesome and that's why I was like What's it gonna be so when you announced it I was like boom first support on LinkedIn you know you did you were you were that picture was so old when you sent it to me he said hey is this you I didn't recognize myself it was like you know such an old picture I was like is that me and I'm like I remember taking that I just moved to Nashville and I was going to to knowledge with with AMI and Tom's like dude you're not even on LinkedIn dude get on LinkedIn so I had my friend I wouldn't put a suit on had my friend take a picture of me in my house in Nashville which you and pippy you you stopped by we stopped by your house yeah you just acquired a fair code remember yeah car you stopped in we had barbecue came over for hot that was so generous to you you're like dude come by the house like I think something happen we didn't have money or something like weird like you're like come to my house I'll feed you or whatever and you like yeah that was crazy yeah that's such a small world dude it's so crazy all right I think we man we could keep doing this all I think we got to do a part two because we could keep one of the reasons why I really want to do this Ryan is like I'm getting I'm getting I gotta go get another round of treatment next next week I wanted to do a Glide chat and with with I wanted to squeeze one more I did one with pippy I was like I haven't done one with pippy ever I wanted pip and I was like I gotta do one more and I was like I've never done with Ryan I gotta I want to get One queued up with Ryan this probably won't go out till after knowledge but um I just you know wanted to thank you for being such a great friend over the years and I think one thing Ryan I gotta say I think you supported me more than I supported you in the early days like you were always like I think I could have done probably more in the beginning to like help you um and you've always always unequivocally just been a supporter so I thank you for that I'll always support you you're a true friend and and uh you're a great great person and uh 's lucky to have you oh man I love you the team the whole family love you too yeah thanks so much let's go do you have a topic in mind that you'd like to discuss reach out to us at Glide fast.com And subscribe to our podcast for new episodes thanks for listening [Music]