Welcome To Founders Forum

Announcer 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J. Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management, or Beasly Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. At March Forward, Marc and his partners and associates think out of the box to partner with their clients in regards to their visions for their lives, their businesses and their legacies. And through his innovative work with the Forward Focus Forums, Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that help to fuel their success. Founders’ Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the stories behind their successes, and the lessons they’ve learned. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights, and a bit of fun! Now, let’s dive in...

Defining The Pivot Moment

Marc Bernstein 0:45

Good morning, America. How are you? We're welcome today to Founders Forum. I have with me, my guest today, Matt. And Matt, um, our topic that we always start with the topic of the day. And the topic of day I'd like to discuss is an old one because we used to talk about it in the pandemic a lot. But I thought knowing your story, this would be an appropriate topic, which is pivot. And what does that word mean to you?

Matt Bramson 1:10

Yeah, so I would say uh that's a that's a meaningful word. In the present situation, uh I'm in the midst of a of a pivot. I um spent uh about 30 years of my career being a part of developing and selling uh technology products and services, especially communication. And I've seen that a lot of those uh those technologies have actually not had the impact that we we had hoped. They haven't brought people together, they haven't, you know, diminished loneliness and isolation, they've done the opposite. So I've pivoted into uh this startup called

Why Interact Exists Now

Matt Bramson 1:45

Interact that is all about um encouraging people to to meet and talk and get to know each other in person, uh get off of your phones, get off of your screens, and really experience the people around you.

Marc Bernstein 1:59

And the pivot that so so that was your pivot. We'll also talk about it a little bit as we get further in the show, but you and I have been talking maybe for about a year and a half since we first met.

Matt Bramson 2:08

Yep.

Marc Bernstein 2:09

And at that time you were doing something completely different, and you were very excited about it. And so when we we'll just mention that a little bit because sometimes knowing when to stop and go into something else, you kind of hinted at that now, but we can talk a little bit about that in a bit. Sure. So now let me introduce. We call this the MB show today because it's Matt Bramson with Marc Bernstein, and we don't have the same middle initial. We figured that out before, but but uh Matt Brampson is co-founder of Interact, and he's a serial entrepreneur and revenue architect who spent 25 years scaling technology businesses from a global communications platform to a $100 million plus energy company. We talked about that a little bit this morning since we're in Babcock Ranch, the first solar-powered community in America, so it's relevant to this conversation, by building the systems and models that drive real growth. He's now co-founder of Interact, and this is what he was referencing, a patent pending live event platform designed to turn strangers into genuine connections, one face-to-face conversation at a time. So officially welcome, Matt.

Matt Bramson 3:17

Yeah, thank you, Marc.

Marc Bernstein 3:18

Thanks for being here today. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about Interact. And how long ago did you get involved with the founding of that?

Matt Bramson 3:26

We started uh building Interact about a year ago.

Marc Bernstein 3:29

And it's you and you have other people involved? I have a co-founder, yeah. You've done this before, so what challenges are you facing? You know, we talk about the shows for entrepreneurs and it's about founders, and you know, the joke is that it you start it and it's like a smooth

How The QR Conversations Work

Marc Bernstein 3:45

ride, right?

Matt Bramson 3:45

So and well, I would say one of the biggest challenges of Interact is in many ways it's about zigging what everybody else is zagging. Interact is a a web app uh that is designed uh not to collect information, not to monetize users, but instead to encourage people to use their phones, to scan each other's QR codes that are issued to them at when they come into an event uh as a wristband. And those scans, I scan myself and then I scan you, generate an outcome on both of our screens that's a conversation starter. And it's designed to get us having a conversation and uh really, you know, experiencing the stories that we each have inside of us, the wisdom we have inside of us, the the fact that we're all fellow travelers on this on this journey uh on earth at this time, in this place. I'd say the the challenge is uh is really around how how different that is, uh how different that initiative is from so much of what we see in in technology and innovation, which is about collecting and monetizing data and figuring out how to drive people to transactions and trying to drive people. I don't know if this is the intent, but essentially driving people away from each other. Isolation has never been a greater problem. Um I saw a statistic the other day that 45% of young men under the age of 25 have never asked a woman out face to face. That's that's that's alarming. It was actually Scott Galloway was the one that that I don't know if it was his research or he was just you know he's at Harvard, I think. Is he at or NYU? I think he's at NYU, yes.

Marc Bernstein 5:26

NYU, NYU. That's right. Yeah, and he uh yeah, he does a lot of work on that, and he's he's he's labeled as a very big problem.

Matt Bramson 5:33

Yeah, very interesting. Well, and we see it in in the in the statistics. Um people report having fewer best friends, uh uh you know, feeling more isolated. Um and a lot of it is this kind of alternate reality that's been created largely on social media. We just saw yesterday a huge lawsuit against Meta and Google that was successful around um

The Psychology Behind Better Questions

Matt Bramson 5:55

you know doing harm to young people with some of their algorithms and the way that they use uh the the tools of addiction uh to drive drive user engagement.

Marc Bernstein 6:04

And it's different in another way as well, if I understand it correctly, because all of these apps and all the uh you know use of technology encourages indirect communication. You're seeing each other on screens if you're seeing each other at all. That's right. This is encouraging a live conversation. You and I would be using the app 100% and talking to each other. So describe how that works a little bit.

Matt Bramson 6:26

Yeah, so so the way that Interact works is uh it's a patent pending technology that uh turns two QR codes into a unique outcome. So as I was explaining, uh you come into an event, it could be a could be a conference, it could be a music show, it could be a food festival, and you're issued a QR code. And that QR code is is is just a random number. It doesn't track back to you in any way. You scan your own QR code with your with your with your with with your phone, no app to install. That takes you to the Interact website, which then asks for permission to open your camera again so you can scan the other person's QR code. That creates an outcome, which does have a sponsor on it, um, but there's no data being collected or conveyed to the sponsor. And those outcomes are conversation starters, and there's a there's a psychological methodology to it. There's a psychologist named Aaron who developed a protocol he calls 36 questions, and they're in three sets of 12, and they basically take you on a path towards deeper engagement with somebody. Level one is very kind of light conversation starters. You know, tell me about your favorite vacation or or what's the best book you ever read. Level two is getting deeper around your aspirations. You know, if if you won the lottery, what's the first thing you would do or buy? Uh level three is getting really deep, uh, and maybe even you know, too far to go in an early encounter. Question at level three might be something like Of all the people in your life, whose death would devastate you the most?

Marc Bernstein 7:58

So if I understand this correctly, you and I meet at some kind of business event. Yep, we start this, we may go to level one, and then we say, hey, let's stay in touch. We get back together, we use the app again, I guess, to continue the conversation.

Matt Bramson 8:12

That's right. As we as we scan each other, we go to you know higher levels of conversation. And it's really just a really just a

Loneliness Stats And A Party Shock

Matt Bramson 8:20

way to spark that that interaction, get people talking. One of the things that I, you know, that compelled me is um one afternoon I um was sent on an errand by my wife to return a uh, I think it was a pot or something that she had borrowed from a from a girlfriend. And I went over to this this woman's house, uh, who's a friend of mine as well. And she was in the midst of hosting a party for her son and about 30 of his 17-year-old friends. And so I'm in the kitchen giving her back the pot, and she says, uh, she tells me that this party's going on, and she asked me to kind of do a lap around the house because her son has told her if she leaves the kitchen, you know, the, you know, he's gonna be, he's gonna be angry with her. So I did a lap, kind of a reconnaissance lap, and I came back to the kitchen, and I was horrified with what I was with what I'd seen and what I was gonna report, which was um, you know, nobody was in the backyard trying to get to second base, nobody was trying to sneak beer, nobody was dancing. It's instead there was a bunch of uh you know, healthy, happy 17-year-olds sitting shoulder to shoulder on couches and chairs on their phones, not talking.

Marc Bernstein 9:26

I experienced that myself.

Matt Bramson 9:27

And I was, I was, I was horrified, frankly. And that was one of the experiences that sort of got my wheel spinning about how do we use these darn things, these smartphones, to bring us together and to realize that some of the greatest gifts that we have in this life are the people that surround us. And we walk past them with our with our faces and our screens. Of course, we've all seen the family having dinner at a restaurant and everybody's on their screen. Right. Um, so and I I mean we've all seen this, but I just decided that I was gonna pivot into seeing if I could do something about it.

Marc Bernstein 10:02

I I do want to get into your story a little bit because this is about the

Why Meetups And Dating Apps Fall Short

Marc Bernstein 10:05

stories of the founders. But one I'm curious, is anybody else doing this? Is anyone thinking this way? Have you seen any other innovations around this?

Matt Bramson 10:12

We've done a lot of research looking around. Nobody's doing exactly what we're doing. There's definitely uh a lot of of um activity around helping people meet. There's of course the whole dating app thing, which is not what we're up to. Right. Uh there are meetup type apps that are designed to get people to come to us to a place and and meet, but nothing we've seen that really is designed to provoke those conversations and and try to get those conversations beyond small talk. There's a there's a realization, and we all experience it periodically, about how much we need and want to connect with other people deeply. We've all had the occasional conversation with a stranger where it goes into a really meaningful area. But what Interact's designed to do is to create that type of serendipity on a regular basis.

Marc Bernstein 11:00

So what you're telling me is the things of the meetup apps and things like that are it's still the more traditional mode, a little bit of probably data collection and you know, encouraging meeting, but trying to get people into one place together.

Matt Bramson 11:14

What Interact is about is taking it past that. So you've got people together because you've got an event uh you know that's going on. How do you get those people to break out of their little clusters of people maybe that they came with or uh break through their

Incentives That Lower Social Friction

Matt Bramson 11:30

natural shyness, their reluctance to to you know approach people? And there's some other tricks to interact. One of the things that we do at an event is we have a uh uh is we have a prize at the end of the event. Two people are gonna split a thousand dollars, and that's based on on their interaction. So that how far they went into the conversation. Yeah, actually. Yeah, it's not about the money per se, it's basically about giving me an excuse, right? If I see you across the room and you look interesting to me, it's a little weird to approach you. But if there's potentially a thousand dollars in it for us, right, then I have an excuse to say, hey, we should try this. We might be the lucky two that are are destined to win a thousand dollars. Yeah, you're trying to lower the the inhibitions and the friction in much the same way that if you've ever been to a a well-hosted dinner party, the host or hostess is saying, Oh, you know, you know, you and Marc have so much in common, you don't even know it yet. You guys, I'm gonna sit you guys together. Um, that kind of that kind of thing.

Marc Bernstein 12:27

So if I'm hosting event, Matt, let's say I have founders forum network that I have, and we get together. I entrepreneurs don't usually need that incentive, you know, to talk to each other and and and to discover.

Matt Bramson 12:38

But well, maybe they do to get off of their pitch and get into something more vulnerable.

Marc Bernstein 12:43

That's right, maybe, maybe. So if I did that, I think I would think me as the sponsor would have to tee it up to say, hey, we're doing this a little differently than we do other events, right?

Matt Bramson 12:52

That's right.

Marc Bernstein 12:52

And that's right. I might talk to you about this because I'm gonna have one of these conversations. I would love that. This would be pretty cool. We could pile it for you. So, anyway, um tell tell us about your story

Matt’s Founder Journey And Pivots

Marc Bernstein 13:00

because you are a serial entrepreneur. You founded other companies before. Tell us a little bit about your journey. We only have about a minute and a half to start that before our break.

Matt Bramson 13:08

But sure. So I I kind of always start my story off with I uh I got out of college, uh, I was living in Philly, uh, and I got a job working for a company that had developed a really He's a Floridian now. He's a native Floridian lives in Florida, just backward. Yeah, I grew up in Tampa. Um but um uh joined a company that had developed a really groundbreaking and way ahead of its time uh kiosk for uh previewing music in music stores, uh which of course music stores you know don't exist anymore, and they were wonderful institutions that are gone. Um and that was when I caught the bug. I saw the opportunity that software, uh this is in the late 90s, that software um uh gave a business person to um develop and customize a solution very quickly to meet the needs of a certain customer or or or audience. And so from there I got into uh telecom kind of accidentally, spent um about 20 years in telecom, especially with a company that um uh grew very, very rapidly and very very large, uh now as a part of Verizon. And um and then after that uh started a consulting firm helping businesses to uh overcome a plateau in their in their uh in their growth. What I learned from that, by the way, is that the plateau is always caused by the same thing, which is that the leader has plateaued in in various ways. And um and then uh started a company that is where you and I uh first um first met uh called Greenwise that helped businesses uh uh you know maximize and automate the process of generating referrals. Got uh a decent amount of success with that in the roofing business. And um for various reasons I I uh you know pivoted um uh away from that and um and uh and now what I'm really focused on, in addition to helping some clients that are in need of my my help on on uh on growth, I'm very focused on Interact.

Marc Bernstein 15:16

It's a great jumping off point. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll be right back on Founders Forum with Matt Brampson.

Sponsor Message Break

Announcer 15:21

The Satell Institute is the leading CEO member organization dedicated to Corporate Social Responsibility. Under the vision and leadership of its founder—entrepreneur and philanthropist Ed Satell—the Institute brings together CEOs in Philadelphia and other cities to support the Nonprofit organizations that do heroic work in our communities. The Satell Institute believes that “community is every leader’s business.” SI’s members-only meetings and private CEO conferences give members the opportunity to hear from world-class thought leaders on crucial topics like AI, education, corporate philanthropy and more. In addition, CEO members get the opportunity to share ideas and experiences with their peers— like-minded CEOs who believe in the importance of giving back to the community and who understand the benefits companies get from embracing Corporate Social Responsibility. The Satell Institute charges no dues or fees — in order to join, member companies simply make a long-term commitment to the nonprofit of their choice. To find out more about membership, —and why so many leading companies are now part of the Satell Institute — visit the organization’s web site at satellinstitute.org. As Ed Satell says, “Think WE, not just me.”

Internal Challenges Entrepreneurs Face

Marc Bernstein 16:44

We are back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Matt Bramson. Matt, uh, you've had so you've done a number of things, and what I like about your story is that each thing that you do seems to build on your experience from the last one. It's kind of leading you into the next. Is that fair for the most part?

Matt Bramson 17:01

I mean, I think that's you know, that's the way I'd like to think of it. It doesn't feel that way sometimes when I'm, you know, I'm in the middle of it. But yeah, I I think that I think there is a progression, uh especially as I look backwards.

Marc Bernstein 17:13

Well, since I've talked to you for a while, I can just see how your thought has evolved from one project to the next. So that that's my observation. But maybe it helps you with perspective on the harder days, you know, to do that.

Matt Bramson 17:24

Sure, it's always nice to feel like you're making progress.

Marc Bernstein 17:26

So given that, if you had to kind of generalize about as an entrepreneur the challenges that you've had over the years, you know, how how would you characterize those?

Matt Bramson 17:36

I would generally divide the challenges into internal and external. And I would say for myself, and I think I can extrapolate to most other people, the internal challenges are actually the most difficult. Overcoming inadequate confidence, uh, overcoming risk aversion, overcoming this sense that you don't know enough or um you don't have all the skills that are necessary, comparing yourself to people that are more successful. Imposter syndrome, sure. Yep. Comparing yourself to other people and and uh feeling that you that you that you might not measure up. Uh those are to me, I think, the greatest obstacles. Because once you I don't know that you ever fully conquer them, but once you once you overcome those obstacles, it gives you a lot of inertia and some of the things that that were external that were seen as as daunting, you know, are much more surmountable.

Marc Bernstein 18:29

I appreciate you bringing that vulnerability to the show because we have some of that on the show, but I'd say everybody is always so charged up about where they're headed that we sometimes ignore those pieces. But I don't think there's an entrepreneur that hasn't gone through what you all those things that you just talked about, you know, if we're being real about it. Yeah. So I appreciate you sharing them. What kind of things have you done to counteract those? Do you do anything? Um, any kind of mental exercises or reading or things that help you progress?

Matt Bramson 19:04

Yeah,

Therapy And Honest Sales Conversations

Matt Bramson 19:05

I do all that. Um I talk to a uh uh you know a therapist uh once a week. I um I try to read books that are um you know challenging in a in a uh you know mind expanding kind of a way. Um I also try to remember that and I think this is a common theme in the entrepreneurial community, so to speak, um, that this sort of fake it till you make it ethic um is a little bit counterproductive. Uh what I find is that the conversations I get into with uh with potential investors, with potential partners that are uh more honest and vulnerable are actually the ones that propel the relationship and propel the cooperation and propel the business deal to a greater extent than the conversations where I'm uh very much in pitch mode and you know, you know, bulletproof type of uh type of an approach. And um because it's it's hard to relate to somebody who's just relentlessly on message, relentlessly confident, uh uh, you know, relentlessly, you know, I don't need anybody, I'm independent, this is gonna be the biggest thing in the world. Um it's it's it's not as relatable as you as you might think it is, uh, you know, as you're kind of you know, you know, you know, you know, uttering that kind of stuff. Um people trust people that they can relate to and that uh have challenges and struggles. And when you when you uh when you embrace that uh and you share that, you actually you I think some people presume you're gonna repel people, but in reality, uh it's powerfully attractive.

Marc Bernstein 20:49

Uh I have a couple thoughts on that. One is the fake it till you make it. I think that did work in years ago. You know, I think that was an old kind of salesman's kind of I know that's when my father was kind of, you know, his his day of reading Dale Carnegie and things like that. I mean there was a lot of genuine, you know, genuineness in in all that, but there was also uh I think it worked in simpler times, but I agree with you today. I think there are a lot of things that used to work that are outmoded now and don't work as well. The other thought I had is just yesterday we were in the same studio and we were recording a show with Sid Kitsen, founder of of Babcock Ranch, is a great innovator and all that, and he talked about relentlessness and determination, and you know, and he talked about how he played in the NFL for a couple years, and he talked about how that that was taught to him on the athletic field. And I can see that, but he would he'd be the first Italian. I think he said it twice during the show, that he could have never done this with all the other people around him. And he said one of his greatest strengths when I asked him that was hiring people smarter than himself. So obviously he was able to stay real positive and real focused, but at the same time recognize that he couldn't do it all alone, which is another, I think, aspect of what you're talking about in leadership. So I think that's really interesting. So um given that, um, so that's a challenge. So let's talk about current challenges with Interact. Um, what do you see ahead in terms of getting let me ask you this? I'm gonna jump ahead a little bit, but you know, your future vision. We could talk about one year, five years, ten years. How would you what would you like to pick there? And um and and tell me about what the future vision is, and then I'm gonna ask you what the challenges are and we'll go back to this conversation.

Matt Bramson 22:41

Yeah. Well, when it comes to vision, uh the longer term ones are always the ones that are more fun. Uh so for that reason I'll I'll start with the one-year vision.

One Year Vision And Proof Events

Matt Bramson 22:50

Um my one-year vision for Interact is that we um uh uh we execute uh a proof of concept event, which is coming up in the next month, and uh and then we do you know a half a dozen others uh over the course of the year uh that are uh you know successively uh larger and and more impactful. Um the the really the goal is to uh to remind people, and I said this earlier, but that the the the greatest gifts you have in this life are the people that surround you. Uh some of them you know, they're your friends and family, some of them are strangers though, that you uh you know you pass by them and uh and you never avail yourself of of what they could teach you and what you could teach them. And um and increasingly, like I was saying, when people are walking around um or sitting in a in a in a party uh on their screens, um it's just clear that they're that they're squandering that gift that's around them. And so that would be the probably the central part of my one-year uh goal or ambition for Interact is to play a small part in you know infecting the world with a greater understanding of the the value of of you know uh opening yourself up to other people and uh putting yourself in in conversation uh with people on a more on a more consistent basis.

Marc Bernstein 24:15

So one of the obvious challenges is that is that people aren't built that way these days necessarily, so you have to overcome that. Do you see any other challenges for that one-year vision?

Matt Bramson 24:25

I think that we have been so trained to create frictionless experiences

Funding Reality And Sponsor Model

Matt Bramson 24:30

and doing things with the smallest number of clicks and you know, consuming so much of our entertainment, so much of our of our uh you know need for engagement through these devices. Immediate gratification, right? Yeah, that when you go talk to investors, uh venue operators, event organizers, it's almost like you're speaking a foreign language, uh, that you're gonna you want to deploy a web app that doesn't collect any data from anybody, doesn't monetize the users in any way, and is really about getting people to put those devices down and really, you know, have face-to-face eye contact conversations. Oddly enough, it sounds a little bit alien uh to people. Uh and I can see that. And I have a lot of people kind of looking at me quizzically, like, what?

Marc Bernstein 25:19

So is gaining funding still a challenge?

Matt Bramson 25:22

Not at this stage. We've got a couple of angel investors that are real believers in the concept, and uh we have enough capital to get us through this first phase. We are starting to see some interest from uh corporations that want to be a part of it. Um uh we would position them as uh as advertisers that are associated with an interaction, but like I said before, there's no there's no data collection, there's no there's no call to action on the app that captures any information, but they would be a part of it. They, in fact, um to give you an example, you know, I talked about the mechanic of it where I scan myself and then I scan you, and an outcome pops up that's the same on both of our devices. And it could be a conversation starter and it could be related to to a sponsor. So, for example, it could be the greatest vacation we've ever had uh brought to you by American Airlines, right? And that's the only association, but American Airlines would be potentially associated with a uh with a really nice conversation uh that maybe spills over into our our view of the brand.

Marc Bernstein 26:24

And if I'm American Airlines, I see that I could use that as a culture enhancer for the company, right? Because if I want to retain employees and I can create more and more connections between them at a deeper level, people think a lot less about leaving, right? So I see that as a big corporate benefit, but I can also see the difficulty in getting that across to them. But look, you don't need the whole world to believe to make this work. You need you need believers, you need a team of believers.

Matt Bramson 26:51

That's right. Well, one of the things we don't realize, I think, in the digital marketing uh game is that only about a third of the dollars that corporations spend on marketing is trackable. Most of it is spent on places like billboards and other types of advertising, that there's really no direct trackability to it.

Marc Bernstein 27:12

This has been a great conversation. It's a little different, and I'm glad

Final Takeaways And Sign Off

Marc Bernstein 27:15

it's really one of the most rewarding conversations we've had, but we are out of time. So I thank you, Matt, for being here. Thank you all for listening to Founders Forum, and we'll talk to you again next week.

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