Jake Aaron Villarreal: Welcome to our podcast, From the Ground Up, where we interview startup founders exploring their journeys, their success, challenges, and lessons learned. We hope you be inspired in discovering what it takes to build a thriving startup. I'm your host, Jake Aaron Villarreal, and here with us today we have Austin Talley, the founder and CEO of Everyware. Austin, welcome to the show.
Austin Talley: Hey Jake, great to be here. Nice to meet you.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, great. Well thanks for jumping in here. Um, a little background on Austin. He launched Everyware, which is a leading customer engagement, billing, and payments technology company based in Austin, Texas, providing services to more than 9,000 merchants across multiple verticals. It's a lot of merchants, we'll get into it here. Um before we do, Austin, where [are] you calling in from today?
Austin Talley: So Austin, from Austin, Texas. So uh, that's where I'm calling in from today.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: All right, great. And are you from there originally?
Austin Talley: Originally I'm actually from New York and then spent a great deal uh spending time in Florida where I built another tech company and then moved to Austin back in uh 2018. So, right place, right time.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. So many companies are moving to Texas, Florida you know, benefits for a lot of different reasons, but uh I've been to Austin. I love it, a lot going on there, a lot of, a lot of good companies innovating there too, which is really cool to see outside of Silicon Valley. Um before we dive into your company, I want to go back a little bit deeper and farther into your, into your startup experience. You had a couple companies you built, but let's even go further back. Where did, where did you, where, where did this all start from? You got into technology, how did that come about?
Austin Talley: Yeah, you know I really started early on in my life where I felt like you know that was a space I wanted to be in. Um you know I came from really a poor upbringing and with really no know, no way or path to go to college. So felt like my only choice at the time was uh the military. So military is really where I got my you know got my first you you know really, you know call it opportunity um you know to become a software programmer. And that's really where I kind of honed in on my skills and got an early start. But you know I would say right around the age 18 years old um picked up a book and just started really studying it. Um figuring things out you know, the military they tend to do things very fast, you know rapid development, so I felt like just getting ahead of the curve um by learning you know I would say you know Windows 95 um and this is 1995, you know the year that that I'm talking about. So you know this is something that was very new to the military and so I felt like I can get more or less a head start um since they were you know going in that direction, getting off those green screens.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: So when you were learning technology in the military, were there courses? Was it, were you kind of doing it on your, on your own and they were plugging you into systems to kind of work on? What was, what was the process like for you?
Austin Talley: Yeah, it was really like in two parts. They had the legacy you know, so learn the current system um you know, which I did that. But I was really more focusing on what was cutting edge, what was you know coming around the corner where I can really make an impact in you know in the military at a young age. So as, as much as I you know took the courses that were really again focused around traditional you know call it FoxPro, old legacy you know systems, um you know I was really you know taking courses myself really just by studying and reading you know books that were coming out from Microsoft and really taking advantage of really like Microsoft Access and SQL, which was really new to the military. But again having the opportunity to learn that uh they allowed me to uh to, to use those types of tools and products um even though again they weren't fully certified or backed by the military at that time.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: And how many years were you in the military?
Austin Talley: I spent about five years in the military. Um so being you know being there you know you have, you're exposed to a lot. And again um it's, it's rapid development, you know rapid deployment, everything moves very, very fast. Um so being able to write systems and do it you know better, faster than, than using traditional legacy platforms like again like Fox, FoxPro and on some of the older languages, you know I felt like I was banging out databases in SQL at a much faster rate than [the] military you know typically does.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. So we'll fast forward a little bit here. You're in the military, you grew up, you learned how to code, develop. Um you have a couple startup experiences under your belt before you started your current company. What were you building, what did you start and what was that experience like?
Austin Talley: Yeah you know one of the first applications that I built was very unique. It was actually connecting directly to the satellites. And at the time you know we didn't have cell phones because again 1995 we weren't even allowed to use email on a ship you know. You had internal email and it was more or less like an intranet environment with no access real- to the internet. Um but I was able to tap into a phone system that allowed me access to a satellite where I was able then to actually use it to transform uh data and have it actually printed on pieces of paper. So the use case was your loved ones at home can send a message to a sailor from thousands of miles away, and again there was no email, but we could do this by leveraging a you know a satellite that allowed me to take it and transform it into text and ultimately print it off like a copier and hand deliver it to folks on the ship.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Talk about hitting where the heart lives. I mean...
Austin Talley: Right. So that's...
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. Yeah. It's like Twitter you know, 140 characters or less you know basically.
Austin Talley: Yeah.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: So that's really cool. Um did you end up building that into a company, uh a sizable company? What was the transition like starting with the idea of solving a problem with a use case and then kind of scaling it? Or what, what happened to the, to the company?
Austin Talley: Yeah, so for that it was more or less just having it adopted um in this case you know by the Navy Fleet. It was the Sixth Fleet that adopted this technology um and used it you know for you know quite some time you know, definitely for a few years before email was allowed on the ship you know because email was still pretty new, it wasn't secure enough. Um so this lasted a few years and it was more or less you know me just trial and error with that. It wasn't more, it wasn't something that I was really looking to you know make a you know, call it you know blow it up to some big application. I knew that it had a short lifespan, um that there was a need for it at the time, but ultimately it got me into building systems around like customer engagement and ultimately that's where I live today, uh even you know call it 20-something years later. So building CRMs, building sales and marketing systems, uh you know when I f- when I first started my first company, that was really my niche. I was starting a company that leveraged and built CRMs and sales, marketing systems for all the major hotels. Um and it was through that experience that led me to build the company that, that I have today.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. Well we'll talk about Everyware. I love the name by the way. I'm shocked that more companies haven't had a name like that. Maybe there, maybe there are, but um I I'd love to talk to you a little bit more about just the name itself. But as the experience coming out of the military and leading companies today, what, what experience helped shape who you are as a leader from the military?
Austin Talley: Yeah, so for the military it's all about time and you know you have to be on time and presence. And you also have to have the ability to stand out. In other words, in the military when you're especially with you, with a group of you know whether thousands or just hundreds of individuals that all wear the same uniform, you know same haircut style, um you know potentially even like the same job right. You have to make an impact and stand out. And one way of doing that is just showing your value right, the value and your strengths. Um in this case it was me on having a, a tech background that somewhat came naturally. Um so having the ability to also show, become a strong leader. In other words like you know, always having a pressed uniform, always being the first one to show up, last one to leave, willing to go the extra mile. Um you know, a lot of those strengths still live with me today. You know getting out of bed early. Nobody likes, I mean I still don't like it today, but it's something that um I know I can get a head start because most people you know don't even get up to say you know call it 7 or 8 a.m. And I feel like I had the advantage, whether it be getting up and just working out, getting up meditating, getting up you know in uh you know in just being more active and, and being more present you know, focusing on you know my day. Um whereas you know again, a lot of us you know coming up from a young age you know, especially going through the corporate ranks you know, some of us really pick up speed more or less in our 30s. I just had uh the ability to do it at a much youn- at a much younger age, in this case my early 20s.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah. Yeah, really cool. Let's talk about Everyware. What uh, what inspired you to create what you have today? Once upon a time it was uh nowhere, right? So...
Austin Talley: Um, but what it really inspired me um was use cases that I solved. So if you ever stay for instance like at the Hilton Hotels, you know 20 years ago I was looking at ways to replace the front desk and streamline communication. And use like a fancy bot name like Ivy um that ultimately you didn't know if it was a human or a bot because I would use real phone numbers but yet the communication was centralized. Um but it... acts like the independent resort in this case, it was really meant to upgrade you or upsell you prior to arrival. And if you stay at these hotels you know you're getting these text messages today. Um but ultimately it was reducing chargebacks, customer service complaints and a lot of problems and doing it very fast. So it was solving a lot of use cases like you know, call it like you know 100 characters or less um that really made an impact. And I felt like, "man like this could you know work everywhere," kind of hence the name. So I designed like a hidden B um in our icon that's still out there today on the internet and that B really you know, I just stuck in front because I didn't have the domain everyware.com yet. So I didn't focus on that, but I focused on it was just building out a product uh with a combination of communication and payments that could work everywhere. And I would visualize early on what it would look like if you know if Twilio and Stripe had a baby. Um and hence you know it was born and soon after that I was able to secure to do, and um it was like liftoff.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Wow, so, so for the listeners out there that don't know maybe technology at the level that a lot of the entrepreneurs that are on the ep-, on the show have, what um, give us a specific use case. You said hotels, but is it more on the customer engagement side of things where your technology integrates? Walk us through like the flow of how it works and you know, maybe a different use case or even, even that same one.
Austin Talley: Yeah, you know a different use case would be an industry like Automotive. I mean, the last thing you want to do is accept a credit card over the phone um and have it turn into being a chargeback, especially if say if it's for like $5,000. Because it's more common now to buy a car from you know call it hundreds or even thousands of miles away, and the last thing you want to do is to find out three months later after that car was already delivered um that it was a chargeback, that it was fraudulent right? So being able to not accept transactions on you know over the phone. Being able to actually have the identity, so I always feel like if you um give me your cell phone number, behind the scenes I have your social, your birthday, your house you live in. And if I don't, then immediately you're already high risk. Because our cell phone numbers are very much unique and that's something that doesn't really change all too often. There's a lot of history associated with that. So in industries like Auto where you're taking these down payments for an or even buying a used vehicle for an excessive amount of money, you want to make sure that it sticks and you not you know, the company's not losing money. So with us, you know the transaction is completed on their own device, we have an identity layer built into it, so before we even process the credit card we already know everything about you, so we can basically raise a red flag to slow down the transaction or stop it altogether.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Wow, that's amazing. Talk a little bit about what that means, identity payments. Um walk us through what that is and why you're leading the way in 2024 around this concept.
Austin Talley: So there's uh, there's more digital tokens being issued today. So digital token meaning that you know digital transactions where your cards [are] being tokenized. So there's less pieces of plastic being issued, and a lot of cases now you're not even going to businesses. They're not even accepting cash. So being able to secure a transaction with your identity built in and do it within zero seconds. So in other words, in that use case that I just walked through, you gave me your cell phone number before you gave me your credit card or even put your credit card information in your, even into your own device. I already have all your data and in this case, as you put your credit card information in, if things you know don't line up or look a little fishy you know, again we have that ability to stop that transaction or slow it down so it would request further review. And with further review, we have an advanced identity that, that'll send you another text message and just say, "Jake, you know, for your convenience can you please take a picture and up with your, of yourself, and upload your driver's license or your passport?" And we'll do a, a liveness check against you as well and make sure that the document that you know says who you are is real and it matches your identity in addition to just again having all the data points behind the, behind the cell phone number.
So really just you know having both the you know the data points behind the phone number and then also having an advanced way of making sure that person is who they say they are um in the payment industry is really going to help mitigate a tremendous amount of risk. And there's a lot of fraud out there, and the fraud right now is you know again, it's, it's even gotten you know larger. They're getting more creative and the fact that today you can walk into a store and I can use your credit card right now and do tap to pay and not even touch anything. Um so you're really seeing a lot of fraud around those types of transactions. So this right here is a great way to solve it you know, it's a great way to solve it because you know today if I forgot my password for my bank account, you're going to send me a text message right? Um and it's being used more and more as you know, call it two-factor, multi-factor authentication. So we feel that you know as we look into the future, the cell phone number is very powerful and it's very close to being you know everyone's unique identifier um that's used for not only payment transactions but ultimately for who you are right. And it's just a great way to get a hold of you um because we're all checking our text messages um you know and we might get a million emails, like go, some of them go to junk, but text you know you're pretty safe as far as making sure that somebody is you know getting it and receiving it.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: And you also don't want to get rid of your number. I mean, I lived in San Diego 20 years ago, I still have the 619 area code and I live in Laguna Beach which is, you know, should be a 949 or you know a different area code. For whatever reason like mentally I just feel like I'm going to lose contact with the people I've met over the last 20 years. So uh even if I move across the country I'm going to keep that number if it's tied to an identity that you know helps me or protects me or you know is some way that it's, I can be identified by. Then I think that's uh that's great. Sounds like a, a sticky business in terms of keeping the number aligned with the person that's using um using it. So that's great. If you look at Everyware um in the market today, uh this sounds like it kind of sets you apart, but are there other things that, that you're doing uh in the space you're in that sets you apart from the competition?
Austin Talley: Yeah. So for us it's all about really controlling the whole pay-by-mobile experience. So having the ability to accept money is one, is one direction or one way of doing it, but also having the ability to push money out and do real-time disbursements. So for use cases such that you know, like Insurance where you know you're owed money... they'll call it $20,000 right? You, believe it or not, I mean they're still mailing people checks right? And you know those checks, whether they show up you know 5 days later or 10 days later, um it's a long time. Whereas with us, you know we're taking that insurance company and pushing out a disbursement and doing it within zero seconds right, to your debit card or to your bank account. And again having that identity built in, we know exactly who we're sending it to, and then also giving you the ability to put that debit card in or connect to your bank account um really helps you know streamline that entire process. Save a ton on operation costs because I mean who wants to manage paper checks? Um but in addition to make sure that the money is received and you know, because there are you know a lot of you know, call it fraudulent you know players out there that are capitalizing on mail. Um so in this case it'd be very difficult in the sense of you know, you know pretending or acting like you know you are this other person. You first, you have to get their phone. Second, you would have to actually get their debit card or their bank account. And again if, if it's anything that basically doesn't shake out, we have that third layer which makes you take that liveness check uh you know through your cell phone device to verify you are who you say you are.
So just having that and do it in a way that's convenient. Um you know again we're all you know checking our text messages and we're really getting used to this you know call it speedy um you know way of you know getting paid. You know whether it's Venmo or other apps that, that are on our cell phone, you know we're very much using these apps more or less because they're convenient right? They're, even though sometimes they cost a little bit extra, um ultimately it's the fast reward you know, the convenience of getting paid right away versus waiting weeks or days um that makes this really attractive to a lot of businesses.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: So when you're out there selling your service, your product to, to different verticals or markets, who are you selling to?
Austin Talley: Yeah. So for one we're always really focusing on selling the problem, because one thing we don't want to do is get in a you know, a race to the bottom and compete on fees. And a lot of payment companies in that ecosystem traditionally you know will compete on, "Oh, we'll just give you a lower rate." You know, that's really not why, why we're you know doing this you know, we're there basically selling the problem. So our use case is really you know, whether it's the automotive replacing credit card transactions being taken over the phone and on your own device, or it's connecting to a POS system where the POS system is pushing out a text message to somebody that's remote because they're not in store in the retail environment. So being able to sell into you know, I would, I would call it the C-Suite or the executives, typically you know our target is you know somebody that's in IT, Product or CFO. Um ideally those are the you know, and call it you know, so other software companies that been around in the industry for quite some time. Um you know traditionally we're not going after or seeking startups um, you that for those guys you know I'm sure that they go to Stripe or you know any of the Square or any of those other ones. For us you know we're looking for like the mid-market to enterprise players out there that been around the block, have thousands of merchants that we can do more or less a one-to-many play with our solution, more or less be a value-added service.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. Can you share any big brands, any big logos that we would know about, or is it um more in the middle market?
Austin Talley: No, you can read about us with part of Visa, so Visa being you know a big player really, you know we have an amazing partnership. Um we're part of Auth.net, you know one of the oldest payment gateway solutions out there. We're also part of uh Cybersource, you know, so Cybersource too, solution again owned by Visa. And we also work directly with the Visa Direct team, so Visa um... we're the only certified pay-by-text solution um that they offer. So we have an amazing relationship with them and our product um so much that we were able to extend that relationship into Bank of America. So Bank of America is a you know partner, awesome customer of ours. And again they're you know able to leverage everything that I just you know spoke about as far as you know collecting or pushing money out. Um but we also work very closely with other banks like PNC Bank. Um we also work with large you know healthcare providers like Imagine where they've been around 30 years, send out traditionally 150 paper you know statements and today those statements are now being moved to text messages. And I feel like it's ultimately saving a lot of paper, a lot of trees.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, that's great. I love... there's a lot of hidden value in your company. How, how big are you as a company today? You're, are you located in, in, in Texas? Are you distributed?
Austin Talley: Yeah. So we're, we're located uh, I would say you know the core of our business operates out of Austin, Texas here. There's probably about a team of about 35 of us, um but all together are about 78 employees. So the company's you know, became very fast growing in the last couple years um, because back in 2018 you know there was only about four of us uh you know that, that originated and started this company. So from 2018 you know, you know call it the company has grown to over you know, close about 80 folks. Um so you know, pretty, you know it's a pretty great story and the fact that you know we didn't go out and seek to raise you know 50 or $100 million. You know the company raised about $12 million to date and we really became very profitable. So we're able to invest back into you know building out the company, the infrastructure, our teams. So... and myself as a software engineer you know I finally had to put up my software engineering hat about two years ago and really just focusing on building out this company um because obviously there's a lot of departments that you know you really have to think about, whether it be from your, your HR department (maybe I'm an HR nightmare I don't know) but, but to your customer service department right? Where it's not just about customer support, but about customer success. Um so yeah definitely you know.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great, you know, having those layers. That's great, I, I like the evolution of the company. Um you know, you had people that have stayed with you and moved with you from company to company over 20 plus years. What's inside of you that makes people want to work for you, follow you, and be part of what you're, what you're building? Because I think it's a, it's a rare trait in today's world where people stay you know long with people. They end up kind of moving from company to company and you know, there's certain core skills that leaders have that others don't, and you can, you can learn them, you can grow from them. What can you share with the listeners?
Austin Talley: Yeah you know, I think it's really the entrepreneurial spirit, you know that passion that or purpose that you feel like you have in life, and then you know basically collectively finding people that you want to have that shared vision with. You know I was fortunate enough um to still be working with the first guy that hired me while I was in the military, you know, Scott Linsky, who you see online on my website. He was my very first you know boss and I would say that I was probably like five or maybe even further down the totem pole so I can't recall him really the boss and he was the president of a pretty large company at the time and I was the Junior IT guy. But ultimately made such an impact in his organization, it had close to about a thousand folks, um that him and I basically became business partners and we've been together ever since. And he saw the capabilities that I had with streamlining processes or helping that company at the time generate more revenue, to the point where you know basically he was ready to quit his job as president of that company and you know go grassroots and grinding it out with me. And you know, myself being the engineer um you know call it, had a sales, a good sales and marketing hat, him more of a you know call it an operational you know, he had the, the mindset of a CFO, the mindset of an attorney um, so he can really talk the talk. And also ultimately he had the skill set that I really lacked in. So I think it was finding you know, find that yin and yang where you're both not necessarily doing the same job.
And as I look across our team you know I really you know have an amazing leadership team that again like been with me, some of them 10, 15, 20 years. And I think a big also reason is is, you know, can you hang out with this person after work? Um because you're going to spend more time with them than you are with your family. Um and do you care enough about an individual that when mistakes happen um you don't focus on them, but you're focusing on the solution? So I'm not there to put people down or you know call it be a tyrant you know. I'm there to basically you know be in the support system as well like, "hey man like when we, if we hit rock bottom or we're in times of you know whether it's financial or it's in times where things you know operational not going in the right direction you know I'm not running, you know what I mean?" And I you know so and I want people side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder that share that same vision. You know they're not going to get scared. Um I call you know, fear or failure or failure to start um you know that suffers a lot in organizations where there's finger pointing and, or there's decisions that get made on a you know call it as a committee, where I tend to lean on people that can make very fast decisions, that can own it, and ultimately if mistakes are happening you know they're not you know getting caught up in the mistake or the problem, they're more focused on the solution. And it's been a win-win you know ever since. Um so been really fortunate to really have you know a solid team that's been with me for ver-, for a very long time.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great, you know, they say it's not the, the, the leader of the company that always makes the company, it's the people they end up hiring and the filters they use to make sure they're right, they have the right people on the team. How do you go about making sure you have the right people you bring into the company?
Austin Talley: Yeah, so I very much look at and I I really think of as like a sports team. You know I tend to um think of as like a sports team because you know before you know any championship you know there's a lot of practice that gets involved. So looking at folks that are willing to get into ditches. Um you know when you're early on as a startup you have to wear many different hats, so looking for somebody that's not necessarily you know, you know, comes from a corporate background where they can only stay in one lane. And I think there's a point where you need folks in that you know, in that lane, but as a young startup you know when you're getting things going you know you gotta, you got to focus on sometimes your weaknesses and that you're not really good at and being able to accept that responsibility. You know, even though it might be a burning um, I always like to think if it's only temporary, like myself. You know what I mean, I, there's many times where I've, I was the help desk, I was the support ticket guy, I mean I wore a lot of different hats, I changed my you know name, had different names that I was using just because I didn't want people to know it was the CEO who responded back to them you know. Like stuff like that you know, but you had to do it.
And um you know and so I really looked at folks that you know again that hadn't necessarily a chip on their shoulder. You know they wanted more out of life, life. Um it wasn't necessarily about a paycheck, it had to be something bigger where they wanted to make an impact. So really looked for you know, you know, you know I would say a team that was also in it for the long run, you know what I mean. And then ultimately I always tell my team members you know, I set out a goal to create 50 new millionaires. And I you know, that passion is really what drives me forward because at the end of the day I have no desire um to be the just a you know a one-man show or just a company of one. Um you know having a company with you know, call it whether it was somebody that started at the lowest level, whether it be in sales or customer support, and becomes a millionaire because they stuck through all those challenges and didn't jump ship or you know what I mean you know the first sign of you know things are going in the wrong direction.
And you know early on as a startup you know there's, there's waves. Um we tend to be in a good wave where you know the momentum and everything is really driving this company forward, um but that was definitely not always the case. I mean there was cases where you know when I sold my last company that you know I was running out of money and you know I didn't know necessarily if I was going to make the next payroll. Um ultimately we did, and you know the team that stuck by us, and you know they're still with me today you know those core folks. Um and that's really the kind of people you know I want to be around with in life that are willing to basically take a bullet for you sort of speak. Hopefully never, but um and that's really come from maybe the background of being in the military right, where you know you're not going to leave your brother behind um no matter what. That you're willing to sacrifice everything if you really believe in it or believe in that person.
And I tend to you know hire you know folks with that come from a similar mindset. A lot of athletes on our team. Whether athletes that um now train and do Ironmans or triathlons or marathons, or ex-hockey players. Um I mean ex- runners, you know played college sports. I always like you know, when I interview someone I always try to focus on what's not on their resume. You know what are they really like, what motivates them? Like I can read your resume um but I'm not going to ask you those questions, I want, I want to know a little bit more about you. And you know, so I want to know what, what does life look [like] outside of work, you know, what are you really passionate [about], what drives you? And it tends to be the athletes you know, whether they played high school sports, college sports, had a competitive spirit, you know that tends to be the driving force behind the culture that we're building out this company.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: I like that filter, yeah, because you can get the competitiveness is, should be or should or has been in their background if they are an athlete competing or still competing at a high level. So that's really a good aspect to, to shoot for. You know, as a startup founder you get pulled in many different directions. Um whether it's product ideas or ideas that might take the company into new markets. When it comes to products it's easy to start building things that might look nice, might work, but you know are they generating revenue, are they really adding value to the core platform you're creating. What's been some lessons you've learned that you can share in that area?
Austin Talley: Yeah, you know it's very difficult you know as a, you know as, as an entrepreneur that comes from a software engineer background and I became really good also at building out product, and also just the vision behind you know the start of Everyware. It was very challenging early on because we had way too much, way too much product. And you know people's brains can only absorb so, so much. So when you're raising money I knew right away it was again about perception, about you know having that MVP. So you know I would say early on when I was building out Everyware I was living in South Florida in Boca Raton, and in the year of 2016 when I was just coming up with the idea I was running it by folks out in San Francisco that were venture capitalists. And [the] minute I would say "Boca Raton, Florida," you know I lost them, I lost them because their brains went to old people, travelers, you know, um so I knew perception-wise uh that was going to be a challenge.
Or we know early on developing out Everyware there was an app associated with it, but at the time, back then apps, man, there was so many apps out there it was like app-nea. So I felt like man, you know if I had the app and I had the phone number experience to collect money, it was just too much product for people's brains to absorb. So I really had to you know scale it back and put the app on the shelf where it lives today. Um and it's a an amazing, sexy app and I still use it personally from my own experience um because it's, it's just, it's a great tool. Uh but ultimately that's not what the VCs wanted to hear, it's not what they'd been willing to invest in. It was to pick that MVP, you know that product offering that was going to get market fit, put the money behind that, build a team around that, build the infrastructure you need to support that, and you know put the app on the shelf um for another day.
And that was very challenging and hard to do because I poured everything into it building out that app. And again when it came, push came to shove, man if I really wanted this company to move forward you know I had to have less product and really focus around solving the problem you know with, with that MVP. Um and having that mobile number, it just seemed like that was the experience and what folks were looking for. Um and then having that experience to allow two-way communication and collect money, yeah that was, that was very unique.
Um then also go horizontal. And a lot of times companies you know are more focusing on solving problems vertically specific, and again so it's a very much of, of a challenge as you think as a horizontal approach um because all these different verticals come with their own uniqueness. And you know again if I'm going to be a company um whereas in the beginning I would focus on building a product around the travel industry um but it wouldn't apply to healthcare or auto. So I had to really again take a step back and put the uniquenesses around the travel industry or systems that we're building on top of our[s] to support travel on the shelf. Because they wanted you know a product that can work horizontally that can be plugged in with as little or no customizations whatsoever to get somebody up you know as fast as possible so you can move on to the next sale. So you know those are really some early lessons that I learned uh you know building on our platform. And now that we you know call it you know hit it um you know sitting in board meetings with VCs are much different today. Now it's "Oh, what new exciting product are you launching?" You know what I mean. So now it's, now you can slowly release you know some more product as you gaining more attraction with your MVP.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, that's great. I'm sure a lot of listeners will be able to take that and hopefully save some months or if not years of their growth from the equation as they look to build what they bring to market. Um uh as you um look at 2024, what's exciting to you? What's on the horizon for Everyware?
Austin Talley: Yeah. So you know 2024, you're going to see more and more money movement in real-time. You know, so RTP has been around for you know some time now, and now you have the launch of the FedNow. What that did is, what that does, it's actually training consumers. You know, especially since consumers [are] now using Cash App, Venmo, and these apps that are moving money in real time, where it just makes a lot more sense for businesses to do the, the same exact thing. So you're going to see more and more mobile wallets. Um you're going to see more and more you know real-time money movement. Um whether it's the use case that I gave you where you're pushing money out to your phone number or getting paid faster, um or you're just basically now sending individuals, me to you, money back and forth by leveraging your phone number. So you're going to look for more use cases around money and movement in real time. And I think a lot has to do with it is with the release of the FedNow. Because if the FedNow is going real-time, that's a game changer. Um that's a game changer because you know merchants are going to be trained. And that's going to be a differentiator. So if I was to open up a new account, and the business you know is familiar with, "Oh I just read an article on FedNow, and oh, money moves. I shouldn't have to wait two days." Well they're gonna look for companies that offer that and you really want to be ready you know when they do. Uh because ultimately that two-day or one-day even you know, companies are you know, they live on cash flow. So if they can get paid in minutes and seconds, yeah sign me up.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, I love that idea. Sign me up for that one. Um great, well we're going to switch gears here now. We're going to move uh to what I call Three Questions. It's simply that, just three questions and three simple answers. Um, where do you go to think big or to brainstorm?
Austin Talley: I got back from Aspen last night. And so you know for me, u- being somebody that likes to get out there in the mountains um, and I went to Aspen solo so it's not like you know I went with a bunch of friends or anything. And really the big reason is um, because we have a big fundraise coming around the corner. And you know, [I] have a lot of you know folks that, where they call it from the first round that, you know, looking to cash in, and I got folks that you know want to put more money in. And it's got, you know, get from all different types of angles, uh picking the right you know new partner. Because the company's doing really well um and there's a big pool of investors right now that really want to get in. So, and there's also like the team and the structure around um "do I promote within, you know, do I look outside again."
So looking at all those different angles, I really just wanted to get away for the weekend by myself and to spend time up in you know, in the mountain. And it was a perfect weekend because it was opening weekend also for skiing. And so I was able to ski, be up on the hill and really just absorb um you know not only the surroundings but just get some clarity you know. Look for um, look deep inside you like into your soul, like "why, you know why are you here, what is your purpose?" You know, not, not, not lose track of what you're really after in life. Um you know, whether it's to make a difference you know down the, down the road. Like myself, I have my own plans you know, whether it's being a philanthropist, somebody out there that's really helping others or giving back, um and how you going to do that. And or you know in other words like there's a bigger cause um you know behind you. So just really like searching you know deep inside you know, you know for that. And again this is just looking over this past weekend that I just came, you know came back from and really the reasoning behind you know that trip um... what to do just that.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, that's great. And what a great place to do it. I like to be outdoors too. And you just, you know something about being connected to the environment or in the wilderness or just in a different space outside of a city, you know, you just think of things differently. And, and you, you find answers that you're not as cluttered in your mind around when you're in the day-to-day work or whatever your environment is. That, that makes a lot of sense to me. What, what advice have you gotten from another founder that's been priceless to you as a founder?
Austin Talley: Yeah, so I tend to read a lot of books you know what I mean um as well, so really getting the advice of um not necessarily thinking you know it all, right? I think a lot of founders or you know, tend to you know whether they lead with you know like "my way is the only way" and you know, and become poor listeners to their team. But I really found that you know, when founders that you know I looked at as more or less like mentors that you know built up successful companies and how they did that and really had that entrepreneurial spirit um, you know, one is really just being a good listener. You know, I think that was really key, and allow people to make decisions on their own. Um you know, so allow you know folks... and sometimes you know again they're going to fail. And I'm no different, I failed many times. I failed, you know, I failed more times than I can count, I can tell you that. But ultimately um maybe the ability of a founder, and you hear it time and time again, to fail forward. Um so in other words, like you know, appreciate your failure. And I think that's kind of hard for people to do is to kind of appreciate why you failed. And um uh so you know leaning on founders that you know have a mindset that basically says, "Hey man like failure is, it's part of the journey. Like you're gonna... like hey dude if you're not failing like you're doing something really wrong. Like you need to be failing more." And that's sometimes it's hard to as a founder, right? Like "fail more," like he's like, "yeah, you're not trying hard enough. How many times you fail this week?" you know. So I think that's good advice is, is uh you know, embrace the failures.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, I love that. What works for you in staying positive uh in the world of a startup where you know it's a rocky road, lots of ups, ups and downs?
Austin Talley: Yeah, so one of the you know, really the biggest thing I say to that is man is my morning routine. No matter what, I get up two hours early, so call it like around 5:00 to 5:30. And I really take advantage of not checking my phone at all. So my phone is off, I'm not, I don't care. Yeah, I'm sure there's some emergencies or hair on fire scenarios that maybe came in over the night. U- but the last thing I want to do is, is focusing on what's going on on my cell phone. So really got in a good habit of meditating every single morning, and then going right into um a workout routine. You know that, you know something that I'm really passionate about always. And, and it could be anything you know as far as the workout, doesn't always have to be like "oh it's got to wh-, l- you know lift weights" or what have you. But ultimately it could be like you said, walking in nature, going on a hike, bike ride. I mean you know um, just about anything.
Uh so really you know getting that, that early start where man like I always say the hardest thing I'll ever do is my workout routine in the morning. Now everything today is going to come easy you know. So I already got the hard work over with, uh the day is going to be easy. And I think by telling myself that or training my brain to think that way, and doing so first thing in the morning versus jumping out of bed five minutes before work's going to start, you know going in the office having coffee... no that's not, that's not for me. And a lot of our folks in our team and folks that I, I tend to lean on and hire um are folks that you know really have strong morning routines versus you know working out late at night. You know, where I don't necessarily disagree with that, might, may work for some people, but I just feel like starting your day off the right way with meditation, working out, um getting up a few hours or an hour earlier is the way to go.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: That's great. Well Austin, I can't believe how quick this time has gone here. If, if anybody wanted to find you or find Everyware, where would they go?
Austin Talley: So it's just everyware.com, spelled like software. So e-v-e-r-y-w-a-r-e.com. Um and it's really just austin@everyware.com uh from you know for my personal uh information. So really online is the best way to find us. Um you know if you live locally here in Austin, chances are you know we're not too far from you because we office right downtown and we've really made a good habit of going into the office. So we're very much involved in the community here uh especially in the downtown area. So if you're ever in Austin you know definitely uh look me up. Um you know we're a very active you know, we call it a company in the sense like we love work hard, play hard. Um we love you know partners that basically want to share in some team building experiences and be a little bit more competitive and um you know we love even going to just you know happy hours and just you know shooting the sh- and talking. Um you know it's a really good community here in Texas, very friendly. I think it's one of the best things about Austin is that not only it's the weirdest city, I would say it's the most friendly city. Um and that's something that you know we definitely take advantage of by living here.
Jake Aaron Villarreal: Yeah, that's great. Well you've heard it directly from Austin. If you want to check out and find Everyware, you know where to go, and if you want to connect with Austin you know where to go there too. Austin, thanks so much for joining us today, really appreciate your time and having the um the courage to come on and share your story. Uh as well as to all, all of our listeners for listening to us today, thank you for your time, the world to me. Uh I'm Jake Aaron Villarreal, uh look forward to catching up with you all on the next episode. Until then, take care.
Before we wrap up, I want to give a big shout out to all the entrepreneurs that have joined to make this podcast possible, and for all the listeners for listening. It means the world to me that you chose to spend your time with us today. I'm your host Jake Aaron Villarreal signing off for now, but can't wait to connect with you all soon on the next episode. Take care.
This show is sponsored by Match Relevant, a company that helps venture-backed startups find the best people in the market and they do it in three simple steps. First, they sit down with founders to understand their story. Second, they tell their story into multiple candidate channels. And third, they schedule interviews within 48 hours. Find us at matchrelevant.com to learn more about how we do it.
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