🤣 #70 - From Contending With Ali –– To Cocaine Cowboy: Lou Esa

Anthony D’Apolito is the Head of Content for TruckBux, an Austin, Texas-based startup, whose app allows customers to order pickup or delivery from nearby food trucks. Anthony is also the Founder of Dream Big & Co.––a media  company that creates content to build brands and share inspiring stories. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 4:51 - Flow States & Skydiving; Dr. Dre, Sylvester Stallone, & other celebs’ flow states; “Constraints cultivate creativity”; The War of Art by Steven Pressfield; Steve Jobs, Simplicity, & Discipline 24:41 - The hypocrisy around “authenticity” & revisiting TRENDIFIER #4; Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign analysis; Narcissism; Obama v Trump 37:17 - High School Cliques and what they say about our future environments; The power of connections; Anthony’s Positivity...real?; The evil inside of all of us; Sam Altman & the “It’s better to do more good than less bad” theory; Jordan Peterson & his theory on Hitler 54:13 - Empathy vs. responsibility; The seriousness of criminal justice; story about a father who forgave his son’s murderer & why he did it; Throwing around words like “empathy” without any meaning behind them 1:06:23 - Glasshouses in society; Cynicism towards politics and the problems with political discourse; Joe Rogan should interview all politicians; Politicians & groupthink 1:17:40 - People fear change; Revisiting the safety conversation from TRENDIFIER #33 - Brady Burkett; The similarity that ties together Skydiving, flow states, and love; Tuesdays with Morrie & “Knowing how to die” 1:32:31 - The concept of Time; NFL Legend, Tony Siragusa’s outlook on time with his hourglass collection; Revisiting TRENDIFIER #15; The problem w/ “Stay Tuned Culture” 1:38:50 - Naval Ravikant theory on your surroundings; Tupac “2Pac” Shakur and his famous poem, “The Rose That Grew From Concrete” 1:52:39 - Elon Musk’s drive towards something far greater than money; The use of negative energy as a motivator; The misconception around Gary Vee’s “loving failure” theory 2:07:33 - Anthony’s work at TruckBux; TruckBux founder Nick Nanakos’ backstory and family American Dream story 2:22:07 - Revisiting TRENDIFIER #35 - John Rondi & his Stunited / TikTok come up story that’s reminiscent of Brian Chesky & the Airbnb story; Having courage in your conviction as a startup founder;  Anthony’s early content of TruckBux founder, Nick Nanakos 2:35:20 - POST MALONE’S come up story is proof that he WANTED IT more than anything else in the world; Michael Jordan documented as a kid?; DaBaby’s work ethic; How Pele learned to play soccer with a rolled up sock and a mango; The tragedy of believing in people more than they believe in themselves; Decentralization & Opportunity 2:51:51 - Julian tells a story about an unnamed person he looks up to as an example that “it’s possible”; Closing the conversation revisiting the “time” theme again ~ YouTube EPISODES & CLIPS:

31 Mars 20213h 6min

Chaz Cervino is an athlete/influencer manager, businessman, marketer, and investor. Currently, Chaz is the founder of Cervino Co., a management and consulting firm that works with companies and high-profile individuals. Previously, Chaz co-founded Today’s Business & Today’s Athletes. TB & TA offered services that included marketing, digital media, athlete/influencer management and consulting. In 2021, Chaz exited both companies and founded Cervino Co. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 2:32 - How Chaz landed the Cleveland Cavaliers as a client at age 24; That time his company stopped an planned attack against LeBron James; Affiliate Marketing background; Athletes short window for brandability 17:18 - Chaz’s football career at Syracuse; Why Doug Marrone was a terrible person; Chaz’s transfer to Hofstra; The problems with college football recruiting; Doug Marrone’s terrible reputation everywhere he goes 33:35 - The cancellation of Hofstra’s football program; The Jones Brothers at Syracuse (Arthur Jones & Chandler Jones––along with their brother, UFC Champion Jon Jones) 39:02 - Todd Marinovich & Marv Marinovich background; The Todd Marinovich 30 for 30 44:27 - Players Chaz played with who he immediately saw “NFL” in; Concussions & CTE in football; Weed & Painkillers in college football 55:27 - College athletes getting paid; Reggie Bush 1:03:05 - Chaz’s decision to leave football behind 1:10:15 - How Chaz built his athlete client rolodex; Kevin Garnett & Ray Lewis; The sleaziness in the athlete management industry; The problems with modern-day college education 1:29:02 - Why Chaz left Today’s Business; Alignment & Vision when building a company; Video Content; Focus on Happiness 1:47:46 - Relationships in Business; Cervino Co; The Naval Ravikant Model 2:00:40 - Where things are going (trends); NFTs; Decentralization; Industries that have been massively disrupted that now have the opportunity to disrupt 2:26:49 - Sports changed by Covid 19 Pandemic?; Young kids and fear; Masks; Carolina Panthers Tackle, Russell Okung on critical thinking; The mainstream media has let us all down 2:43:38 - Chaz’s career and life transition over the past 3 years; Trust; The fear of letting people down; Not Trying too hard ~ YouTube EPISODES & CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0A-v_DL-h76F75xik8h03Q  ~ Show Notes: https://www.trendifier.com/podcastnotes  TRENDIFIER Website: https://www.trendifier.com

24 Mars 20212h 58min

Mike Spear is a trial attorney and conservative scholar. Currently, he is an active member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and a strong supporter of the Fraternal Order of Police. Previously, he played Division-1 College Football. ***TIMESTAMPS***   7:13 - Meat’s a father; The Trump Koi Pond Incident; Spear’s trip with Julian to NYC back in 2016; Why was Ben Carson in charge of HUD; Reviewing Bill Barr’s tenure as Attorney General 24:33 - The Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy; Epstein’s ties to Bill Barr; Epstein’s ties to Bill Clinton; Ghislaine Maxwell, her father Robert Maxwell, and the Mossad Agent / Asset Conspiracy Theory 40:17 - Whether or not Presidents have gotten the real intel on Epstein; Obama & Drones; Who was Epstein? Epstein, blackmail, & His Infamous “Bill Clinton in a Dress” Painting 56:31 - Barack Obama & his speech against “Woke Culture”; Michelle Obama’s call to have Donald Trump banned from social platforms 1:12:19 - Providing context to the Black Unemployment statistics from both Obama & Trump’s Presidency; Trump’s actions on mass incarceration; Killer Mike, Louis Farrakhan, & Candace Owens; The 13th (Netflix Documentary) 1:26:16 - Ronald Reagan’s Presidency, The War on Drugs, & The AIDS Epidemic; American Exceptionalism; Mental Health in the Covid Pandemic; The complete correlation between crime and money 1:41:12 - Ilhan Omar & her criticism of President Biden’s stimulus check program compared with former President Trump’s 1:47:41 - Mike & Julian revisit Mike’s “tagging” every neighborhood in New York City back in 2016; Phish 1:51:51 - Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah; The racial issues with The Royal Family; The effects of Prince Harry’s experience with his own mother’s tragic death (Princess Diana) 2:15:35 - Piers Morgan hilarious interview of Alex Jones over gun control; Meghan Markle & Piers Morgan’s romantic history 2:30:51 - Governor Andrew Cuomo (NY) & his recent sexual assault allegations; Julian does Cuomo and Sebastian Maniscalco impressions; Governor Cuomo’s brother, Chris Cuomo and his naked escapade in front of his  wife’s yoga class; The Dr. Seuss controversy; How the Major News Networks are all profiting off of the division in the country. ~ YouTube EPISODES & CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0A-v_DL-h76F75xik8h03Q  ~ Show Notes: https://www.trendifier.com/podcastnotes  TRENDIFIER Website: https://www.trendifier.com  Julian's Instagram:<

17 Mars 20212h 54min

Grant Wiley is a former NCAA Football All-American, actor, & tech entrepreneur. Currently Grant––along with NFL Veteran, Najee Goode, and Jonathan Ohliger––is the Co-Founder of Veepio, a mobile, direct-to-consumer, interactive Ecommerce tool. Grant is also an actor who has appeared both on screen and on stage. Previously, he was an NCAA All-American Linebacker at the University of West Virginia and went on to play in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings for 2 years, before retiring due to injuries. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 5:35 - Grant’s West Virginia Football & NFL Career background; The injury that ended Grant’s career; How to tackle Michael Vick at Virginia Tech 22:51 - The golden era of Big East football; The Rich Rodriguez era at West Virginia & Dawn of the Spread Offense; College Athletes & The Responsibility Coaches have to them; Grant’s relationship with Rodriguez & Defensive Coordinator Jeff Casteel 35:44 - Casteel’s recent interview about Grant; Grant’s discipline & work ethic; Grant’s leadership and bond with teammates on and off the field 46:46 - The death of Grant’s friend & former teammate, Chris Henry; The role of the media in unfairly vilifying athletes; The impact Death of Grant’s childhood best friend; Grant’s changes in NFL aspirations; Grant’s struggles with reason and purpose towards the end of his college football playing days; Grant’s goal line stop of Lee Suggs in 2002 1:25:42 - The brain impact of football, Concussions, & CTE; Grant’s thoughts on an NFL career that didn’t go as planned; A discussion on “Boomers” 1:38:24 - Grant’s recognition of the different experiences of others; Ego & Cancel Culture in modern discourse 1:46:05 - Grant’s discusses the mistaken narratives around his friend, Adam Pacman Jones 1:54:52 - More talk on Pacman & society’s instantaneous judgement of young stars with money; Talking with friends when they’re making poor judgements 2:07:28 - Grant’s career post football in the arts; How Grant came to love and admire creativity; Grant’s move to New York City 2:14:55 - Grant’s initial start modeling; A funny trip down memory lane with Grant’s college team photos; Grant’s introduction to acting studying with the late Bill Esper in NYC 2:20:45 -  Veepio and interactive Ecommerce technology; Veepio’s timeline since being founded in 2015; Veepio’s work with the Philadelphia Eagles and other Sports franchises 2:34:23 - Integrating 3D Technology into the real world; People’s resistance to change 2:43:20 - Grant’s empathy and his appreciation for “the process” ~ YouTube EPISODES & CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0A-v_DL-h76F75xik8h03Q  ~ Show Notes:

10 Mars 20212h 51min

Nick Gurol is an investor and teacher. Recently, Gurol was an early investor in NBA Top Shot NFTs. Dapper Labs, in partnership with the NBA & NBAPA, launched Top Shot in July 2019––and the market has seen a major influx of participants and capital in early 2021. Gurol is also known for his 2017 national public feud with Brooklyn Nets All-Star Guard, Kyrie Irving, over Irving's claims that the earth is flat. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 6:06 - NBA Top Shot intro; NFTs; Dapper Labs & The Flow Protocol on the Ethereum blockchain; Hardcourt & Fantasy sports 15:22 - How Nick got involved in NBA Top Shot; Jonathan Bales & his original newsletter on NBA Top Shot; How the secondary market works; The NBA Ad campaign for Top Shot; The Daily Fantasy Sports community influx into Top Shot 23:05 - Series 1, Series 2 & Common, Rare, and Legendary Top Shot classes; How the NBA Top Shot Moments work; Dapper Labs Dr. Seuss project; NFTs and video games; The value of NFTs and Top Shot Moments; Scarcity 32:25 - How the Top Shot website and market works; Could the exchange be hacked?; Dapper’s fight against bots on the site; Coinbase  and Mt. Gox exchange examples 39:40 - Dapper Labs valuation; The theories behind the NBA halting their ads; The timeline of the NBA Top Shot explosion into the mainstream; The pack drop that bombed; Examples of Moments in packs 44:45 - Gurol’s “proprietary algorithm” for uncovering outliers in the NBA Top Shot Moments Market; Revisiting Rare, Common, & Legendary levels; Steph Curry 3-Pointer Moment’s crazy price 49:26 - Gurol’s investment; Revisiting Michael Lewis’ Flashboys book; Why Nick is bullish on Top Shot and the NFT Market; The grind and work behind Top Shot investing; When Gurol knew it was time to sell many of his moments 59:39 - Status of current Top Shot market cycle; Money Laundering protocols Dapper Labs has in place; Fine Art and historical use for money laundering, tax evasion, etc.; NFT Market hard to hide things? 1:04:34 - The timing of Top Shot’s rise; Revisiting the Gamestop, Reddit, Robinhood saga; Is the Top Shot market at a “top?”; Peak sales on Top Shot; The sports card market, PSA, Starstock, and the higher barriers to entry there 1:16:37 - Jared Dillian, The Seafood Tower Theory, & The Taxi Driver Theory 1:25:46 - The NBA’s marketability moving forward; Top Shot restriction in  China?; Anthony Fenu, Riley Horvath, Justin Baker, & Soar’s potential in the NFT market with volumetric content, holograms, and 3D capabilities; “Friction” and why Top Shot is a better investment than sports cards 1:49:29 - Dapper Labs 5% “rake” on transactions; Flow Protocol and its scalability with dollar integration; Cryptokitties; NFTs explained definitively; Sam Merrill’s Top Shot Moments 1:57:21 - Gurol’s national public feud with Kyrie Irving over his flat earth belief; The elaboration likelihood model; The psychology behind changing your mind; Anchoring; the 3 Doors Test; The effects low barriers to entry on public platforms has on our discourse; Reporting and journal

3 Mars 20213h 17min

Jackson Hollowell is a Film & TV Show Critic. He and his fiancee, Alex Mohr, run the Instagram blog, Flicks & Flix (@flicksandflix), where they post reviews of all the latest Movies and TV Shows, weekly watchlists, and news about the film industry. You can follow their page here: https://www.instagram.com/flicksandflix/  ***TIMESTAMPS*** 5:59 - Flicks & Flixx; The Fan Divides in Movies & TV; Star Wars & The Luke Skywalker problem; Jon Favreau’s life 19:27 - Making movies too soon after something happens in real life; Ben Affleck as Batman; Bruce Wayne/Batman Character; Batman vs. Superman 28:40 - The Director’s Process; The Godfather & it’s crazy backstory; Entourage; Zack Snyder; Martin Scorsese’s Movies (including Goodfellas, The Departed, & The Irishman) 38:04 - Binge TV vs. Weekly TV; Spoilers; State of Productions in Covid Pandemic; HBO Max 51:27 - Bad movies that followed up great things (Entourage Movie, Godfather 3); Best Trilogies of all-time; The Town; Schitt’s Creek; Ben Mezrich’s already writing the Gamestop book (with a movie to follow); The modern day “leading man”; Cable TV vs. Premium Cable TV; Putlocker; The subscription model 1:11:34 - The problem with commercials; The Sopranos; Movies & Memories; Jackson’s favorite movie memory 1:20:20 - Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker in “The Dark Knight”; revisiting Robert Downey Jr. & his role in Tropic Thunder; South Park, Seth McFarlane & Family Guy; Judd Apatow Movies; Seth Rogen; The Rock 1:39:33 - Hans Zimmer talk; “The Batman” trailer; Robert Pattinson vs. Christian Bale as Batman; Best Joker performance ever 1:49:47 - Method Acting; Jared Leto on set; “Dream of Passion” by Lee Strasburg; Jackson’s interest in Greek mythology and how it ties into film 1:55:16 - Stranger Things; The 80’s and 90’s are having a comeback; 90’s TV shows (including Friends & Seinfeld); Actors who died too young (Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, Paul Walker, Heath Ledger) 2:06:07 - Guilty Pleasures & Chick Flicks; Viggo Mortensen; Jack Gyllenhaal  2:14:07 - Werner von Braun, Nazis, & Operation Paperclip; Captain America; Finding Hitler 2:22:09 - Inglourious Basterds; The opening scene of IB; Christophe Waltz; Quentin Tarantino; Keeping names in Hollywood today 2:28:50 - A Star is Born; the story of Bradley Cooper’s inspiring rise to stardom; Cooper & Lady Gaga; Matthew McConaughey & The McConaissance; True Detective Season 1; Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, and The Judge; Vince Gilligan; Ozark; Steve Carell 2:43:51 - Christian Bale & “Vice”; Adam McKay; Ryan Gosling; The Place Beyond The Pines 2:50:00 - Scorsese’s homage film styles; Godfathe

24 Feb 20213h 14min

John Rondi is a TikTok Influencer, Technologist, Alcohol Connoisseur, & Tech Entrepreneur. He is known for his TikTok Page, “Johnny Drinks,” (@johnrondi) and his app, Stunited.  John and his dad are behind the JD TikTok account, where they make extravagant cocktails, answer questions from fans about different drinks/alcohol, and promote fellow brands in the space. They also have their own line of bourbon called “Burning Chair Bourbon –– The Johnny Drinks Edition.” Back in 2017, John founded the Stunited app as a platform for college students to barter each other’s skills “under-the-table.” The app has had unprecedented active user growth over the past 6 months. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 5:27 - Discussion on the conversational podcast style; The Clubhouse app; Talking on the phone in 2021 21:01 - The Stunited app; The concept of “cheating” 38:39 -  Collaboration as innovation & Challenging traditional norms; “Nothing is ever used for 100% good” 44:44 - The danger Stunited was in when Corona hit and how John pivoted; Foreign Data Servers & TikTok 56:46 - Selling “Happiness”; Staying present in life and balancing it with optimizing your time as an entrepreneur 1:07:21 - TikTok in early 2019; TikTok’s brilliant marketing strategy; Snapchat Spotlight; Revisiting Vine; Paying creators; How the For You Page (FYP) on TikTok works; The TikTok Creator Fund 1:23:50 - The Johnny Drinks TikTok Page (@johnrondi on TikTok); How John and his dad launched the page and the first video that went viral; their line of Burning Chair Bourbon; How the TikTok algorithm works 1:41:58 - The Airbnb story and its parallels with John’s story; How Stunited has exploded in the wake of fresh funding; “People are great at pretending to be busy” 1:52:32 - Being honest with yourself about your value; Entrepreneurs vs. Intrepreneurs; Talking Anthony Fenu (from TRENDIFIER #30) , Riley Horvath, Justin Baker and their company Soar; the problem with only spending time around “like-minded individuals” 2:09:33 - How the entrepreneur term is now a dirty word; Why John always saw himself as “different”; The danger of wins turning into losses; The highs and lows of building a company 2:16:59 - Elon Musk’s recent quote on founding a startup; How to know who to listen to and who to ignore; The difference between “this is going to happen” and “this is happening” 2:27:56 - A business does not live inside of everyone; John’s mentality of always thinking there’s an easier way; The lack of empathy in society; Revisiting the early days of Stunited and how “it wasn’t ready”; Arrogance vs. Expertise 2:45:15 - The two sides of the phrase “fake it til you make it”; Discussing the podcast style of TRENDIFIER and true conversations; Being a true connector; What a true conviction sale looks like ~ YouTube EPISODES & CLI

17 Feb 20213h 14min

Giovanni Gussen is a Venture Capitalist & Startup Founder. Currently, he is a partner & the head of International Business Development at MoonShot Guru, a Venture Capital Studio headquartered in Singapore and India. MoonShot Guru helps late-stage tech startups (Series B or later) scale their businesses in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Prior to working with MSG, Giovanni founded a live-streaming startup geared towards high school athletes. ***TIMESTAMPS*** 5:39 - The Wall Street Bets (WSB), Reddit, GameStop (GME), & Robinhood Fiasco 17:02 - Censorship & the Robinhood situation; Big Tech Regulation; Jack Dorsey is a confusing guy; Amazon AWS & Parler situation 36:59 - Peter Thiel’s theory on Monopolies & Competition from “Zero To One”; Is Jack Dorsey calling the shots?; Eric Weinstein & Bret Weinstein 1:06:30 - MoonShot Guru Venture Capital Studio & Giovanni’s role as head of International Business Development; How funding rounds (like Series A) work 1:10:24 - Blockchain; NFT’s (Non-Fungible Tokens); Digital Currency; The Artificial Intelligence (AI) investments Giovanni is evaluating 1:23:30 - UI & UX on social apps; Why Instagram is ruined; Steve Jobs’ theory on Simplicity; Clubhouse App UI & UX 1:33:59 - Apple not innovating the same since Steve Jobs died; Revisiting Horo’s argument from #17 on Big Tech vs. Startup workplace culture 1:38:31 - Giovanni’s journey from college dropout to founding a startup; What makes sense about a college education and what doesn’t 1:57:20 - Why other people who aren’t entrepreneurs don’t understand what it’s like to be an entrepreneur; Elon Musk & his tireless vision as an entrepreneur 2:12:00 - Elon Musk & Tulsi Gabbard as individuals fighting back against archaic institutions; The inherent problems with politics that simply competes for more votes in the next election 2:23:11 - The paradox of the Individual vs. Institution battle during the Covid Era (The two sides of it); Humans have bias 2:33:03 - What defines the public square in modern day speech; The problem with repealing Section 230; The  reasons Twitter gave about why Trump got banned from Twitter 2:46:52 - Trump didn’t pardon Edward Snowden; Discussion about Snowden’s case and arguing against the slippery slope counter argument some make against it 2:55:39 - Discussion on the Clubhouse App & whether or not it can change the political landscape; The Francis Suarez / London Breed Clubhouse Room recap 3:07:50 - Capturing Gen Z on Clubhouse; The communities who are crushing Clubhouse early on; Authenticity vs. Aesthetic within Gen Z 3:16:20 - Discussion on Bryan Fogel’s New Documentary, “The Dissident,” about the murder of Washington Post Reporter, Jamal Khashoggi, at the hands o

10 Feb 20213h 27min