Host Lisa Kiefer interviews Colin Pape, CEO and Co-Founder of ShopCity.com. Located in Berkeley and Canada, ShopCity.com helps local businesses leverage the Internet to compete against online retailers like Amazon.com and other global chains. Its mission is to create thriving local communities with strong, prosperous economies - places where bustling local shops and vibrant downtowns are filled with proud local shoppers happy to support their friends and neighbors as they shop locally first!
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker 1:Method to the madness is next. You are listening to method to the madness, a biweekly public affairs show on k a l ex Berkeley celebrating the bay area innovators. I'm Lisa Kiefer and today I'm interviewing Collin Pape, the Co founder and CEO of Shop city.com. [00:00:30] Welcome to the program, Collin. Thanks Lisa. So what is shop city?
Speaker 2:A shop city. It's basically a platform that enables communities to build a stronger, more sustainable local economy with a platform that's similar to amazon.com. Okay, so you're located in Berkeley and also in Canada. You just opened in Berkeley? That's correct. Oh, we're in the, we work a coworking facility corner of Shattuck and university. Okay. So I want to understand this better. What is the problem you're [00:01:00] trying to solve with Shoppe city.com? Yeah, so, uh, the Internet, uh, to date has really been a tool to drive globalization, global commerce. It's kind of been breaking down and geographic and boundaries and unfortunately that's really been to the detriment of local economies. But we really see a huge opportunity to enable local businesses to use the internet to reach local customers. And to decrease their marketing costs and to make it easier to shop locally first. And so [00:01:30] that's the platform that we've built.
Speaker 2:Okay. So tell me about how you're doing this. Sure. So, uh, basically each community gets its own local site, so there's a URL for each community. So, and how did you get those? It's been a long process. We've been at this for about 15 years and so we secured a about 8,000 domains starting in 2000. Okay. And so once you got those domains, what happened? Yeah, so, so there's a URL for just about every community, about 85% of the ones across [00:02:00] the u s so we have big ones like shop New york.com, shop boston.com down to a smaller shop, sf.com we effectively provide at, at Turnkey model to a local entrepreneur. Could be a municipal government, could be a local business group. And, uh, so we provide them with the URL and then a, a platform that enables them to do the marketing out in the community and then, uh, to use the internet to basically drive local commerce.
Speaker 2:Can you give me, walk me through an example from [00:02:30] the point of view of a small business or medium sized business? Sure. Yeah. So, so there's, yeah, really a, a multiple stakeholders that we serve. So, so the top is the partners, but uh, effectively it's about the businesses and so we provide them with the ability to create an online storefront. They can do email marketing and they can update their social media accounts and they can have their content published on a trusted local domain like shop SF dot conference. Who manages that shop domain? Is it the city of San Francisco? [00:03:00] It could be a city. We've got a couple of city governments that are running the platform, but generally it's a local entrepreneur, somebody who's got a, an interest in the local business community. And what has been the reaction of cities to this sort of chamber of commerce like, right.
Speaker 2:Well it's a, it's something, especially here in California because there is a sales tax that's, that's fed into the city coffers. We don't really have that up in Canada. So they've got a pretty strong interest in ensuring [00:03:30] that purchases happen within their borders. And so they're very supportive. A lot of them are already running shop, local campaigns, shop city campaigns and a, so this is a way to really activate those campaigns and enable people to take action online. Uh, we give them a, a brand that they can market all through the community, drive people to a destination where they can find all the products, services and business available locally. So you're trying to create strong economies, it sounds like local economies. That's right, yeah. Using the Internet. [00:04:00] What was your inspiration to do this in the first place? Yeah, so it started in my hometown, which is a Midland, Ontario.
Speaker 2:It's a recreational community, about 20,000 people. My parents had a retail paint store for 28 years and a around the turn of the Millennium, uh, home depot came to town. Walmart came to town and, uh, I'd started building small business websites. A lot of the local merchants were really fearful that they were going to be forgotten as these flashy new stores came into the community. And so [00:04:30] a thought that there had to be an opportunity to use the internet to provide the community with information about what was available locally. And then it was really just about marketing and getting it out into the community so we could hit home your own family. Big Time, big time. Definitely they were concerned. I mean paint is a competitive industry. There were probably six, seven places where you could buy paint already in the small town. And then yeah, you've got the Walmart and home depot during the outcome of you creating this local platform there.
Speaker 2:It [00:05:00] was really well received. So, so it was really about the marketing. Uh, we, we did a bit of a grill and marketing campaign. We, we went out to, we put core plus signs all over the community. Two foot by one foot shot, midland.com support your community signs and a did it on a Sunday night. Everybody came into work on Monday and all the street posts had signs. And, uh, so that then we started getting businesses really getting behind us, uh, wanting to put signs in their windows. A Chamber of Commerce wanted to get involved. The, the town of Midland asked us to do a deputation. [00:05:30] And so, uh, everybody really, uh, just saw the value in, uh, supporting local. And what is the cost to a local business to become part of this local community? Or is there a, yeah, there's a, a range of different, uh, uh, opportunities.
Speaker 2:Uh, everybody has the ability to create a profile page. They can tell their story. Uh, but if they wanted to use some of the more advanced features, the shopping carts, uh, the ability to send email newsletters, uh, they would pay. It's anywhere from 30 to $400 per month. At the high [00:06:00] end, they're getting a dedicated account manager. So if somebody, uh, if they don't really have the time or the technical capabilities, they can hire somebody to do it. It's your background in technology, is that how you yeah, exactly. I started building small business websites and then develop the platform and now we've got a team. But, uh, yeah, yeah. A lot of people have written about the value monetary economic value of small communities versus the big box stores like Michael Schumann. Had you been reading some of these books in college or I mean like when did you [00:06:30] I get inspired about this.
Speaker 2:I just intrinsically understood it growing up in a, a small business environment. My parents, they'd come home and we'd have dinner every night and we talk about just the trials and tribulations of running a local business. We really understood intimately the need to have reciprocal relationships. So you're spending money with somebody, they're spending money back with you and just that, that every dollar that you spend is really a vote for what you want to see more of in the community. And [00:07:00] uh, it's, it's a way to support the people who are doing good things in the community but also creates a lot of intangible benefits. You know, like you can see in the u s especially in the Midwestern areas, the small cities, there's nothing there. They're just a shell of their former self. Yeah. And they have a lot of problems. They have a lot of problems with young people and people leaving and Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they, they, they've really been gutted. And it is an unfortunate because I think the, the small community model is actually one that's a [00:07:30] little bit more sustainable and a little bit more connected. You're, you're closer to your local food producers. Uh, you end up having stronger relationships. You have less of the financial nightmares created by Wall Street. And uh, it is unfortunate that things have not gone in their favor over the past, uh, 30, 40 years. But I, I think you're going to see, uh, the tide turning and we're certainly hoping to be a part of that.
Speaker 1:If you're just tuning in, you're listening [00:08:00] to method to the madness on k a l x Berkeley. Today I'm interviewing Collin Pape, the CEO and founder of Shop city.com. Where are you now in the process here in the u s I know that you, you started in Canada, you were successful with shopping and this is your next forum. So where are you in that process?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it started in Canada with shop midland.com. We've got about 25 markets up there that [00:08:30] are currently in operation, but one of our founding partners,
Speaker 2:he is from the bay area, born and raised in San Jose. What's his name? His name's Jim Terry. Great Guy. And uh, so now, uh, what we're doing is a kind of a, a master franchise if you will, and we've kind of, uh, sectioned off the 430 California communities. So we, we've got a new company called Shop california.com. Uh, it has the rights to all those different territories. We're doing a direct public offering through a company cutting edge capital [00:09:00] and we're, we're now actively, uh, working with people who are interested in bringing the model to their community. And we're going to do the expected, it's going to be up and running. Uh, so we're, we're launching a pilot project in September, so, uh, we've got a couple of different communities that are on the shortlist, right? We're right now down to three. Uh, so, uh, it's going to depend on the order, but a shop, sonoma.com shop, alameda.com shop pleasanton.com.
Speaker 2:So as a consumer I [00:09:30] can instead of local can mean many different things. Let's say I, I'm loyal to a town in New York, maybe out in upstate New York, so I could search online potentially someday in the future and shop locally and in that small town versus going to Amazon for a product that, that maybe previously carried it. Yeah. Ultimately the model is actually going to funnel up to shop locally.com. So it's basically going to be an aggregator so that, uh, for instance, if you wanted to buy Michael Schumann's new book, uh, you could go onto [00:10:00] a single page that has that a book and then you could buy it from wherever is closest to you. And what are the statistics about local? If I buy a book in my local bookstore versus on Amazon, do you know the statistics on the benefits? Yeah, and there's a, a lot of different ones out there.
Speaker 2:Uh, but one that we, uh, have have found to be fairly valid is a 45 cents return to your local community with an independent store versus 15 with a local chain store. If you're shopping on Amazon, odds are there's zero [00:10:30] return to your local community. Where's that money going? Yeah, it's uh, it's going, going to corporate headquarters in somewhere. You interface to city government if they want to. That's right. What do they get from it? Do they get anything? Uh, yeah, so, so for instance, we're working with, uh, the city of Corona in southern California Shop corona.com and uh, for, for them it's really just the kind of more intangible longterm benefit of enabling their local merchants to be more competitive online. Uh, they're trying to, again, keep the tax dollars local and they're trying [00:11:00] to ensure that they don't have vacancies and they're just trying to build a more vibrant economy.
Speaker 2:Uh, so we're kind of helping them do that. It seems like you could disrupt Yelp and all the chamber of Commerce's and become like the new 21st century chamber of commerce slash she helped because you could also have rating systems. You have local companies, right? Or are you already planning yet? We do have that and yeah, certainly we're, we're looking to disrupt Yelp. We'd like to disrupt Google. We'd like to disrupt Facebook, we'd like to disrupt Amazon. It's all [00:11:30] the big guys and it's about putting all that money back into the community. Uh, chambers of commerce. We actually work with them. They're one of our partners. So we've got a way for any local organization, but in particular chambers to get their own business directory that's powered by kind of the master, uh, shop city directory and a, they can get mobile apps, they can get lots of tools to basically minimize their costs and improve their online experience.
Speaker 2:I think it would make them better actually. Yeah, we work so in, in Midland, [00:12:00] uh, it's a huge benefit for the local business. They can update their shot midland.com profile and it automatically updates their chamber of commerce profile if they're in the downtown BIA, it updates that it'll update the business directory and the town of Midlands website. And that's really the model that we're looking to build out all throughout. Uh, the communities that we operate in. There is the opportunity for rev share so that these partners can actually earn money through the system. So, yeah, it's a pretty holistic offering. Everybody can win. That's right. Except the big, big companies. [00:12:30] Exactly. That's right. I wanted to talk to you about redundancies in the system. Yeah. You know, with drought and there's so many problems and there are more stresses on the planet as we go forward.
Speaker 2:So people are talking about creating redundant food systems, redundant financial systems, and this feeds right into that. It does. Yeah. It's, it's all about resilience. And, and so you asked earlier about, did I read Michael Schulman's Book Smart Revolution for instance? Uh, I didn't at the time, but, uh, the more [00:13:00] that that we've studied it, the more we see that this is extremely relevant to, yeah. The future of, of the world environment. It's a about building a stronger, more resilient economy that is not so susceptible to these, uh, systemic shocks. Uh, like what happened in 2008. And it's really just a, about enabling people to focus on their own backyard and not so much to worry about what's happening in the rest of the world. So they have an impact locally. Then it feeds up to uh, [00:13:30] uh, the global level. So what are your challenges in this process?
Speaker 2:Have you encountered anything unusual in the u s that you did not encounter in Canada? Uh, what we, we had, uh, some challenges with Google actually back in 2011. And, uh, they, they ended up blocking our sites and, uh, they just didn't like the business model where we are running multiple domain names. We're enabling each community to have their own site. They, uh, wanted us to all do it through one domain, one brand, which was really, uh, not the strongest model for communities. [00:14:00] And so we, we ended up, uh, going to battle with them and we were involved with the FTC investigation. We connected with, uh, a lawyer, Gary reback, who was the man who was responsible for the antitrust regulations against Microsoft with windows and Internet explorer back in the day. And, uh, we actually made some progress with them. We were on the, the front page of the San Jose Mercury News business section and Google ended up actually building it with a whole bunch of processes around some of the complaints that we had.
Speaker 2:So that was probably the big one, [00:14:30] sort of one that we did win that one. Yeah. Yeah. It was a, a big challenge and uh, certainly I, I, it was unprecedented. Nobody really had done it, but, uh, yeah, we came out on top. I mean, in general, um, yeah, we're, we're going against all the, the largest companies in the world. And so, I mean, there's, there's, uh, a lot of, just overall resistance to the model, but at a local level, everybody is really supportive of it. Everybody intrinsically kind of understands it. It's a message that the merchants and the local [00:15:00] stakeholders, the people in the community want to see promoted. And so we've got this kind of dichotomy where on the larger level, I mean raising capital from a venture capitalist for instance, that's really not something that a, we're, we're, you know, seeing success with or not even anything that we're pursuing at this point because they want to steer us in a direction that is contrary to strong communities.
Speaker 1:Food comments has been on my program and one of the things that they say is, um, it kind of helps getting the message out that they aren't competing head to head with these large systems. [00:15:30] They think of themselves as another alternative track running alongside them. And then over time that track gets bigger and bigger and bigger. But there's room for both. That's right. And so people can digest it a little bit better I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We've, we've, we've slowly been shifting our message from, you know, shop local to shop local first and trying to just give people that, that choice and make sure that, that the merchants are represented and that the community is represented and ultimately it is up to, [00:16:00] uh, to the consumer, the person spending the money.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Cause you know, you can go on Amazon and order vacuum cleaner bags, but there's a little store down the street and I don't know what people would prefer to do now. So that to me is a challenge. A certain we've gotten used to not having to deal face to face or look for something or walk down the street and find something
Speaker 2:that's right. And yeah, I think that's really where we can play a role in. And Yeah, there is just, there's a disconnect because nobody wants to live in a holiday community that has vacant storefronts that [00:16:30] doesn't have the services immediately available and accessible when you do want them. Everybody wants the best of both worlds. They don't want to have to support local, but they want it there when they need it. And it really is.
Speaker 1:And they want to see people walking down the sidewalk and the restaurants open. Yeah,
Speaker 2:that's right. You want it. You want to be in a, in a vibrant community. Um, and, and so there is this kind of dichotomy, but I think that is where we can, can really have an impact, uh, enable people to have that convenience shopping from home in their pajamas in the middle of the night whenever they want, but still have that money [00:17:00] feed back into the community and enable that merchant to thrive and maintain a storefront and, and provide the infrastructure and the support to the community that
Speaker 1:they are small businesses provide the same amount of money into the economy. I think it's $7 trillion as the big corporations, right? I mean, I didn't know it was 50, 50. I think if that, the word gets out about that, people will look at their communities a little bit differently.
Speaker 2:People don't realize that there's a, something called the local multiplier effect, which we've actually got a website, local multiplier.com [00:17:30] with some information, some statistics. Uh, but it, it's, there's really two components to the economy. There's the, the volume, and then there's the velocity and the velocity is equally as important as the volume. So how quickly money is spent, uh, has as much of an impact as the amount that's spent. Everything that we've statistically shows that small businesses actually spend money a lot more rapidly than the big companies. If you look at apple for instance, they've got about $170 billion in the bank that is not being spent. [00:18:00] So it's not circulating, it's not creating a wealth and enabling people to offer products and services. Whereas most small businesses, they run extremely lean and they're spending that money pretty much as soon as they get it in and it's actually creating a stronger, more prosperous local economy. And so it's about how quickly that money is spent as well.
Speaker 1:So Colin, you have a son, what kind of future are you envisioning for him with what you're doing right now?
Speaker 2:Right. Yeah. So Jackson is, [00:18:30] uh, just over two years old. I'd love for him to have a future. Certainly we're where we've addressed a lot of our environmental challenges. I think those are all all looming. And then from an economic standpoint, I'd love to see just a fairer, more just systems, something that is a little bit more focused on the producers and the people that are really adding value to the economy versus the financial architects that are figuring out how to extract money. So I'd love to see a future where he and his friends [00:19:00] can, can start up their own local businesses to find the money to do it. Exactly. Community capital, just to have that support from the community where people recognize the value of the services that they're offering and the fact that they are local. Just a bit of a more connected world as far as where we all, I think idealistically believe things should go. And then where we're actually spending,
Speaker 1:I'm on it. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to method to the madness on [00:19:30] k a l x Berkeley. Today I'm interviewing Colin [inaudible], CEO and founder of Shop city.com. Do you think generally speaking, Canada leans more toward community than the u s
Speaker 2:I I think actually it's, it's, it's fairly similar. Uh, I think there is really a, a strong pull to community. I think, uh, ultimately everybody supports it. It's just a, again, these, uh, these big brands [00:20:00] have, have made it so frictionless to, to go in and to, you know, spend your money in. And I mean, local merchants need to do a better job as well. I mean, it's hours of operation, it's a just selection. It's all those different types of things. And, uh, so I, I think intrinsically everybody wants to shop locally, support their community. It just needs to be, if not as easy, very close to, as easy
Speaker 1:to do that. When you, as a business person, beyond marketing help marketing my business, [00:20:30] do you provide other things too, like say business analysis tools or is that something you guys are staying away from?
Speaker 2:Uh, so that, that's definitely on the roadmap. What we'd like to do at some point is, is be able to share the statistics across comparable. So there's always just that challenge of, uh, of data integrity and you know, sharing information that's too personal, uh, within a competitive environment. But if you have a, a similar community and [00:21:00] you can show them what's happening in another community, then there's, there's an opportunity to improve Democrat study, demographics, trends, and, and if this community to this, this was the, the outcome. Uh, I think internally within our community, there's a huge opportunity to help businesses and nonprofits close gaps. So identify places where there's a lack of service and an abundance of demand, and then the city could benefit from that. Definitely know your data says [00:21:30] you're lacking a pub or you're lacking a restaurant on this corner and it looks like it could be really successful.
Speaker 2:That's right. Definitely. Yeah. And then ultimately we, we'd actually, local currency is something that's very interesting as well. So enable people to create and circulate a local currency. I mean, all that stuff's pretty far down the track, but I think in the next 10 years, things are gonna they're going to be so many stresses that we're not seeing. Right. That's right. That's what at least the futurists are saying. Yup. Do you involve students at all here? We haven't yet, but that is the plan. Yes. There's [00:22:00] a, I think, a big opportunity to build a community for the creative, uh, economy. So, so people who are building websites here in graphic design, social media, marketing, these are all services that local businesses use and need. And a lot of the challenge is really just, it's around the sales side. It's around the operational side as far as just, you know, billing goes and customer support.
Speaker 2:But we, we'd really like to create a bit of a marketplace so that all of those services are fulfilled locally [00:22:30] by local creatives. And so we can, uh, help them on the sales side, connect them with the businesses that need their services, help them on the invoicing side and just maintaining customer relationships but enable them to actually fulfill the work. Right now we've, we've got, you know, people in, in Midland, we've got a couple of different satellite offices where, where people are doing that work, but ultimately we'd like it all to be done at Berkeley for the Berkeley businesses for instance. And uh, that will definitely require tech savvy, creative [00:23:00] students. I would say fulfill that demand. And how would they reach you? We've got a couple of different websites you can go to shop city.com that's got some information on the company, kind of the opportunity to open up a local market.
Speaker 2:And then we've got, right now it's just a landing page woodshop california.com, which is really just more specific to the opportunity, uh, in California. And uh, he'll be able to find all the different, uh, local communities, the 430 that are, that are on there. And uh, ultimately it will aggregate all of that content [00:23:30] that's put into the California communities. They can, uh, find me on that site. All the contact forms. I uh, I'm on those lists that, that those go into a, so you could just fill out the contact form and it'll come across my awareness for sure. Creative idea. And I wonder if anyone else in the world is doing some type of in Europe or do you know of any other examples? Generally people end up doing it with a, a, a single brand. And so it doesn't become really local in the same regard that [00:24:00] our platform enables that to happen.
Speaker 2:Our, our sites are only about that community and they're, they're very specific and it's really a, a grassroots bottom up approach. And it is about marketing it out in the community. That's how you drive local awareness and you drive participation. And it's difficult to do that if you don't have that local brand. And so we were fortunate that we recognize the opportunity back when domain names were a little bit more plentiful and we've certainly spent a lot of money acquiring them and, and we've taken some risks, uh, you know, dot com bust everything [00:24:30] everybody's getting out. And uh, Jim Terry for instance, he went all in one day, he bought a $50,000 worth of domain, 750 of them dropped and he bought them all. So yeah, so we've got them. Yeah. And uh, and yeah, nobody that we know of is really doing it in that same way.
Speaker 2:Well, I can envision somebody like, let's say Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Amish community where they sell their quilt. I only think they would love something like, you know, little communities like [inaudible] you can go in and, and it almost becomes a tourism draw. Yeah, that's right. [00:25:00] I think that the, the world is, is changing and, and uh, we've gone through different waves. Uh, you know, used to be a very localized world. And then, uh, ever since mass transportation, airplanes and mass communication with the television and phones, things will become more globalized. But I, I think there were really, I'll, I'll, there's a lot to be said for the original local model and then layering some of these newer technologies and opportunities on top, but to just create that stronger [00:25:30] core where we are more connected to a community, uh, I think everybody's is really longing for, for more of a connection.
Speaker 2:And, uh, and I think local is really the, the, the way to do it where it's a true, authentic connection. A lot of the stuff that's just online, if it, if it's Facebook, uh, you know, some of the other, you know, channels, Twitter for instance, uh, you can reach a lot of people and you can have a frequent connection. But, uh, you know, it's not [00:26:00] the same as, as walking into a store and bumping into somebody that, you know, who intimately knows that all the same things that you do, the areas, the businesses, uh, the people, uh, the politics, all those different things. I mean, ultimately everything is still local here. You're still getting all of your services locally. And, uh, I think that that, that's where things are going over the next, uh, you know, 10, 20 years because it's, it's a lot more sustainable people.
Speaker 2:Honest. I [00:26:30] think it does, you know, you're seeing people that in doing business, spending your money with them and they are with you as well. It's sort of this, that that's right. It's, it, it really is. Uh, it's, it's a lot deeper as far as the, the connection goes. I think it, it just builds a better world when people are more authentically connected to community. I saw you came in here with a book. What are you reading? It's by Michael Shuman. It's called the local economy solution. Uh, we were actually featured in the, in the book, which I'm really excited about and [00:27:00] very proud of. And, uh, it's, it's, yeah, it really, it's a, a practical book. It's a different economic and technological and business models. He calls them pollinator businesses that, uh, that really do a great job of, of building up a local economy and they're, they're sustainable financially, so they're, they're profitable models.
Speaker 2:I, I did some research over the past 10 years and I've looked at the history of money. Basically. There's, there's a one documentary that really influenced my thinking, uh, called money masters. [00:27:30] And it talked about, uh, the role of money throughout the, the past millennium basically. And, uh, I think we have a really distorted view of money currently versus what it really is. Well, ultimately money, it's, it's just a, a way to account for things. It's really a debit and a credit system and we've distorted it so that it's all about finances and about, uh, kind of shifting the responsibility [00:28:00] and the control of money to the centralized organizations when it's really in the age of Bitcoin, for instance. Uh, it's really not, not going to be necessary in the future to, to delegate that control. And so, uh, by doing that, you can build just a, a tighter economy where those, those debits and credits are a lot more aligned than they aren't now.
Speaker 2:Right now we've, we've got a whole bunch of leaks in the system. Really. We're, we're entrusting the control of, of that accounting [00:28:30] system basically to somebody who has the, the right and the ability to create their own debits and credits at will. And I think that that, that really does a huge disservice to the people that are actually producing things and, uh, particularly locally. And, uh, so, so yeah, really excited to, to prove out the community capital model where the, the money that comes to fund this, this operation is from the community, the, the money that is generated, returns to the community. And ultimately, yeah, to look at a, [00:29:00] a different type of accounting system that returns things a lot more freely to the community. It's a huge, huge subject. It's, it's all very recent. A lot of these new mechanisms that have been put into place.
Speaker 2:And I mean they, they're not working. If you look at quantitative easing, how much money is being pumped into the economy just to keep things going at kind of the snail's pace that they are. It is a system that's broken and it needs a, a solution that that is more sustainable. That's what is really intriguing about small business. Growing up [00:29:30] in that environment, we knew where all of our dollars were going and we were very aware of the connection and of the power of spending and you would know that, okay, if I spend money with guy, he's got a project coming up to to supply it and so you just start building that. Really, I would say it's a, it's a relationship and it's an awareness and I think that's lacking in a lot of the models today. The community itself has basically been replaced with all these different networks that don't ultimately work for [00:30:00] the greater good and work for the community as a whole.
Speaker 1:Colin, I really wish you luck on this and I want to thank you for being on this program. Thanks for the opportunity. Lisa, you've been listening to method to the madness, a biweekly public affairs show onK , a l ex Berkeley, celebrating bay area innovators. If you have questions or comments about the show, go to the Calex website, find method to the madness and drop us an email. You'll also find a link to previous podcasts. [00:30:30] Tune in again in two weeks at the same
Speaker 4:[inaudible].
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.