[music]
Well, welcome to another episode of Pale
Blue Nexus. I am delighted to have my
buddy Charles on here. Charles, we've
been uh working together for a while
here and just gotten to know you. Um
you're very interesting fellow and um
tell me how you would first describe
yourself and uh maybe then I'll start
asking my questions.
>> An alien sometimes and most of the times
a founder. Uh founder is definitely my
identity. It's my rocks, my icebergs,
who I am. It allows me to express myself
freely on a daily basis while earning
some money. We live in a capitalistic
system, right? So, a founder
>> and you started your first agency when
you were 19, right? Like tell me about
that and what you've learned since then.
>> Yeah. Um
I Yeah. Back then I was a student,
right? Like at 19 I was still trying to
find myself, one could say. I started a
couple of side hustles. Um I was doing
drop shipping before it was cool. I was
buying [ __ ] on uh AliExpress, right?
Alibaba was in 201 12, 13, 14. And I
would resell it on Kijiji,
you know, Kijiji, the Yep. Can
>> Canadian website.
>> Yeah. So, I would buy it online and I
would sell these physically at very high
margins. So, that was cool. That was my
first understanding that, oh,
entrepreneurship can have me earn way
more money than my uh $10 an hour that I
was paid at my two or three jobs, right?
Like I was already a hustler back then.
And I landed this job for this very odd
guy at in sales. He was uh LED light uh
company CEO [snorts] and he was like
yeah go and do some cold calls for me.
So I started doing 100 200 uh phone
calls a day for him. I failed a lot but
that taught me so much and he was
impressed with me because he made me his
uh VP marketing even though I failed at
making calls. And then we launched an
agency together eventually uh a
marketing agency called initial medias.
That was like in 2017. And at the same
time um I became a stu an exchange
student uh for uh my university. They
sent me to Hong Kong. Right. So I had my
businesses. I had a couple of jobs. I
was a student back then. And Hong Kong
was great because I needed to sort of
run away from my house right from my
parents. Um, bunch of teenagers will
understand the situation here. And Hong
Kong, I was in a foreign country. I had
a culture shock with a random time zone
that's not so friendly to.
And I [snorts] was making money from my
computer at on the other side of the
world. That was another big insight,
right? The first insight was like, "Oh
[ __ ] entrepreneur can have me make more
than my job." And then like Charles with
a laptop can make money at the other
side of the world while all the other
students were studying and not making
money. So that was a big insight, right?
And that fundamentally taught me that
oh, from a laptop I couldn't make money,
right? So could tell the rest of the
story, but it's basically being me being
a nomad for the rest uh for the next 5
years with my wife that I met in Mexico,
[snorts] making very good money from my
laptop, from my agencies, and just
having a blast while doing it. So that
that was the the next sequel. [snorts]
>> That seems like a very important sort of
lesson that people nowadays have to
learn, I think, like with the way the
economy is going. um talk about like
what you know and what sort of advice
you would give to people who are
starting off and looking to do what you
do.
Yeah, yesterday I wrote a post about
that. Like I'll start with like an a
piece of advice that circulated out
there that's really toxing my opinion to
young founders which is that give your
[ __ ] for free, right? Like it's the
horsy advice like give stuff for free,
right? [clears throat]
I think that's terrible advice. Um and
then I'll I'll go back to the last
lesson and probably like where to start,
right? But where not to start is like
giving yourself for free. I think it
undervalues you. It doesn't teach you
the fundamentals. The fundamentals are
pick an ICP, right? Pick an ideal
customer persona. Um try out offers to
them. Obviously, not what is an offer,
it's something valuable to them and see
what sticks, right? And what's the best
way to do that? Fundamentally it's uh to
start a podcast and to start uh cold
emailing that ICP right so you can use
platforms like Apollo or instantly uh
you reach out these folks asking them
hey do you want to be on a podcast
that's the first offer right and then on
a podcast uh well even before they book
the podcast on the county link you ask
them filtering questions make sure that
they're good they're not schmucks that
they have budget for you and then on a
podcast you ask them a series of
questions Right. So what that what what
that does is it qualifies them and it
also gives you the data to forge the
right product for them. That's how I
would start if I would be 17 or 18.
Obviously I start with a laptop, right?
Like most kids nowadays their parents
buy them a laptop. Um and you can go
work anywhere. I think that's uh that's
like oh just do it, right? Like at now
is the right time. It's always been the
right time. It's been the right time
since 10 years ago. And then the the way
to do it, the the entry point is a
podcast.
>> Podcast is valuable for the person you
interview every uh and I would advise
for you to go in B2B, not B2C, right? So
interview other founders, other CEOs.
That's the way B2C is hard. B2C has less
budget. [snorts] And then you'll find
out that these founders and CEOs, they
have human needs, right? They want uh to
they want for young people to ask them
questions. They want to talk. People are
lonely nowadays, right? And you will get
data on the other side and you might get
a client one times out of five or 10,
right? if you throw them the right offer
that the offer after your podcast could
be, hey, um, you told me during the
podcast that you struggled with your
ads, you know, how about um, I rebuild
uh, your ads for this month and I charge
you a small retainer and a performance
fee on the back end, something like
that. You test out 10 of these.
Eventually, you'll find out like what
works for them. So, that's how I would
advise young people to start. And
obviously do start a business, right?
Because AI is coming. Do not go try to
fetch a job. You will get wrecked by the
agentic tsunami that's coming. So do
start a business in B2B and use a
podcast to find out what's your product
market fit.
Uh thank you for that. Like that's
amazingly powerful and it's actually
quite a for a person with a lot of
agency it makes a lot of sense. Like I
think you get it Charles because like
you're a very highly agentic type of
person. Um and I think we all need to
kind of shift to to that in in this
economy. Um but I would say like knowing
you you're you're just a bit ahead. So
we may have to be patient with some
people who are not able to implement.
>> But I wasn't ahead earlier in my life
you know like um I mean my dad was an
entrepreneur that's the benefit right.
My dad never really spent time with me
and tried to make me an entrepreneur,
which is good. He gave me freedom,
right? But I would definitely impose
entrepreneurship on my kids, uh, knowing
what's happening. Um, and then, you
know, like I have an addictive type of
personality, so was hooked to video
games, then drugs, then women, right?
So, it's it's like never I've never
really been on the right path. And I I
randomly met this mentor that I told
you, right? Like that we [snorts]
decided to start a business together. Um
but it's not like I mean yes I' I've
always had ambition and energy but I
think anyone can be that you know like
fundamentally what are humans? They're
very gritty creatures, right? We're also
[snorts] very creative creatures and
we're social creatures. Once we
understand that her neighbor doesn't
have a job and that the [snorts] wife
doesn't have a job that like a bunch of
people are being replaced by I think
we'll move together and we'll make the
only rational move we can after of
course protesting and crying to the
government right and that is to take
agency and start your own company. I
think the future is [snorts] fully
entrepreneurial and by the way if that
cannot happen by its own and obviously I
want to contribute to that problem. I'm
launching my school right
defineschool.com
that will teach kids AI and agency and
spirituality I guess and relationships
right like these things that aren't uh
taught at school and of course physical
activity [snorts] but I think most
humans have it uh in themselves right
entrepreneurship is not this thing that
is foreign to us there is a degree to
entrepreneurship and like most jobs what
really happened if you ask me is that
the industrial revolution, right? It
created these things called corporations
and corporations sort of enslaved humans
into 9 to5 and corporations were so
powerful that this became the norm,
right? Um it's like safety. Oh, sure
safety. But is safety a good deal?
Probably not. It's a poison pill, right?
Comfort is death. like you you get
comfort every day, but one day you
[snorts] wake up, you're and then you
need to go into retirement, right? And
you know what happens in retirement?
Retirement, people die sooner because
they're retired. There's science behind
that.
>> It's boring. Uh it's it's uh there's a
ceiling put over your head. I don't
think humans are made to to have
ceilings. So, I think this is all about
to change. And I I don't buy the the
thing of like entrepreneurs are born not
made, right? I think anyone can become
entrepreneurs. It's to me it's more an
equation of how much stress is imposed
on you and what are your options, right?
>> What do you think?
>> What do I think? Um yeah. No, I you said
something there. I mean, I used to be a
government worker at the at the
beginning of my career and I quit. I
just I couldn't handle the boringness
and like I saw people who honestly died
a year or two after retiring and it I
just kept seeing a pattern and I could
see I didn't realize there was a science
behind it that it was just a personal
observation of mine but uh yeah I mean
uh I've always had that desire to to be
entrepreneurial. So I I totally get
where you're coming from. I didn't have
a father like yours that was an
entrepreneur, but uh definitely felt it
deeply within me. So
>> yeah, my dad is like a conservative
entrepreneur, right? Um he's a
consultant. Um not to take anything away
from him, but still like couldn't work
with my dad nowadays. We have I mean we
did work together and I love my dad. I
love what he's up to, but I just I'm way
more on the risk takingaking side of
things, right? And yeah [snorts] like
you talk about 9 to5 right like came
keywords my mind obes obesity diabetes
you know like all these disease that
comfort created and obviously it's like
>> it's way better than the medieval times
in which people would die from disease
and terrible life conditions and quality
of life has definitely gone up but I
think we've taken it a bit too far right
and a bit a bit of stress on the system
is actually good, you know, you need to
stress it to grow. And I think that's
what we're missing out nowadays. Like
society is uh definitely not veering the
right direction. If you check like at
the macro level, um you know, like Trump
being elected twice by in the US, like
there's there's a problem, you know,
there's a a big problem. There's a a
tumor uh that is growing in society. And
[snorts] I I don't think it'll be pretty
by the way like the the shift from the
job market that we have right now to the
uh AI shock it'll be very nasty you know
like there there will be wars and
revolts but when humans are done with
their tantrums I I think most of them
will try to adapt to this this new
reality which would would be most way
more entrepreneurial and by the way also
if you check the trends even without AI
I feel entrepreneurship and freelancing
are are up. Um it's definitely got go
trending up and up. I believe
>> there was a statistics at at some point
was like 50% of um Canadian or US
citizens have some kind of side hustle,
right?
>> One thing you said about um comfort and
being in a nineto-five comfort. I've
experienced it myself is like you you
tend to sort of like take that um desire
you have for more entrepreneurial things
and you risk with different things. You
maybe risk with your money. You start
collecting stupid things. You start
spending going out to restaurants like
every night. Uh you know there there's
certain wasting that goes on when you
have something comfort. Have you noticed
that? Um, I go to restaurants quite
often and I'm my number one thing you
ask me like how I describe myself. I
think like my number one skill as an
entrepreneur is energy efficiency,
right? And every time I go to the
restaurant I I view it as an investment.
>> Um, I went to a restaurant yesterday
with my wife. That was a Tuesday. I
think the best definition of life is
when the the week sounds like a weekend,
right? And you're like, "Oh, that's
that's making it for sure." And
yesterday we went to the restaurant
because my pregnant wife, she worked
hard with the little daughter we have
and just like giving her a break, you
know, and her favorite restaurant and
just chilling for a while even if we
have the the crying baby next to us
during the restaurant. It's and also
give give us a sense of normaly, right?
Because having a newborn daughter is
quite intense. So um we like going to
the restaurants
>> many times and we it's not comfort. not
waste you know it's um I think it's just
like a higher um a higher life but there
is this thing called the the hedonic
treadmill right and
adapting to luxury 100% I have that 100%
like
I have all kinds of toys in this house
and I have everything
>> that's what I was going to get
collectibles and toys I think I see a
lot of men doing that these days
>> yeah and even my sports bike I'm not I
mean the But yeah, the sports bikes like
for example a month two I was getting a
bit bored with it but it's such an
interesting and beautiful and incredible
machine that you can use it at at other
times and then the the sensation is
there some other times is there uh it
fluctuates I would say so you get
adapted to these things but they still
have a value and even even this toy in
specific right like the the superbike
that that I have um it's great because
it's like a trophy for my efforts It's a
physical manifestation for all that
digital work that I put, right? And I
think I think that's like forging the
the two worlds together. Like I don't
have a physical job in which I I use my
hands to build things. And it's just
nice to see that bits and bites gets
converted in physical things and that
weights in my soul. It's nice to know
that I have it in the driveway, right?
Even if there's like some hedonic
adaptation, I think it's worth it. So
being rich is 100% worth it. It's great.
It's um but I could also tell you that
my happiness levels weren't that
different when I didn't had that kind of
money, for example. So
I don't know, dudes. But last thing on
the topic, um the bike, for example, I I
do think it has an ROI in business. just
owning this and getting on it. It's like
it makes me a different type of
individual. So, there is an ROI in
business to owning these things, I must
say. So,
>> yeah. Um,
>> any thoughts on that? Totally get what
you're saying.
>> Yeah. I mean, I I I was insinuating of
of waste in a different way um than than
this thread went through, but it was
like I did find myself
when you're in a comfort zone and you're
at a 9 to5, you sometimes don't think
very efficiently and you're not you
don't bring your best to the table
because I I guess that's where I was
going. It's like sometimes you don't
make be the best financial decisions.
you don't make the best uh efficiency
with your time. Um so so it was it was
more on that angle of things which I
think people will have to start doing as
they become more entrepreneurial.
Well, slow suffocation uh being stuck in
these jobs like dude, even now like with
everything that I do, I feel that I'm
plateauing, right? Feeling that you're
plateauing is good by the way because it
shows that you have a desire for more
and you have ambition. [snorts] But even
nowadays, I feel I'm plateauing, right?
So, good questions like what what to do.
And by the way, I never thought I would
plateau, right? like 5 years ago. I've
always used coaches and psychotherapists
and it's like yeah no I know I'm never
felt that I've plate I won't ever feel
that I'm plateauing but guess it comes
at a phase of your business sooner or
later and when that happens I just try
to disrupt some of my habits and
patterns and routines right just to get
myself out the zone so the best disrupt
in my case is like very hard and long
physical activity
>> so this weekend I'm gonna go crunch a
30k K. Um, I have 125k in in Canada in
like couple months down the road, so I
need to start training anyways. But when
you know, like something is itching in
my soul and it's like, yeah, you need to
move your ass because you're you're not
in a good situation right now, you're
like in a diminishing return type of
situation. I just need that I need to
impose a lot on my mental and my body,
right? like um when you do that, it's
like a hard physical reset. Um this
weekend I'll be at 30k. Obviously, it's
30k is not a lot, but still enough to to
cause change. Normally, I do these
things called ultra hits. I just go on
my roof here. I have a gym and I just
start crunching like thousand push-ups,
right? Which is [ __ ] crazy. [snorts]
And 2,000 squats, right? I even filmed
them on YouTube. The thing is when you
do that, you also do like a biochemical
reset, right? So I view the world like
through biochemical lens like we have
all kinds of chemicals in our body right
now dopamine serotonin testosterone
cortisol right and these things they
just like hard reset everything just
like fasting right uh the these types of
things but fasting nowadays I feel I
wouldn't have enough energy take care of
my daughter I'd be irritable or
something so yeah just like hard
resetting yourself with something
physical old if you're if you're stuck
somewhere. [snorts]
>> Talk about sleep since you're on the
health angle. What do you think about
sleep? And are you one of those guys
that has to get eight hours sleep and
how do you prepare for that or do you
not get eight hours?
>> Oh, I get nine. So, I don't I get nine.
>> Beautiful.
>> So, yeah, sleep is the number one drug
like Brian Johnson says. Um I have all
the devices to track my sleep. Whoopura
ring aid sleep as a bed which is great.
eight sleep is a good investment. It's
impossible not to get your 10 15k back
that you invest in an eight sleep
because that sleep will have you perform
instantly better the next day. Right. So
yeah, my sleep with my daughter's been
like up and down but uh way better than
99% of most parents. Um I've I'm still
religious about my eight to nine hours
of sleep.
um while someone is taking care of my
daughter, right? And she does her nights
right now. So, it's pretty good.
[snorts] Um I've been guilty of like
micro doing um modafan sometimes because
I felt my brain wasn't its normal self
with the the even like 30 minutes less
or an hour less of sleep can affect my
brain, right? Because my days are so
intense. I need like my full 9 hour. So,
I've been doing that as of late. I
noticed uh actually this week yesterday
that yeah I need to not micro dose
medapanyl even if it's like once a week.
Medafanyl is like the limitless drug by
the way. Um and yeah I feel that will
start improving because even if I slept
like eight hours and a half I still
notice like not feeling great. But today
for example I woke up naturally without
an alarm. I think I it was like 8 uh
yeah 8 a.m. and I slept at like 11 p.m.
or something like that and I woke up
naturally with full energy, right? Like
not feeling some kind of foggess. Uh
how's your sleep nowadays?
>> I I admittedly don't sleep well. I need
to take whatever it is that you're
taking or look into whatever it is that
you're looking. So I'm going to research
that.
>> You know what is the best sleep drug
that to sleep?
>> Uhhuh. It's physical activity. It's It's
hard physical activity, especially the
legs.
>> So,
>> I I mountain bike. I I'm a big mountain
biker. I just haven't
>> Yeah, but that's cardio. So, if you want
to sleep good tonight, like my diag Do
you have weights around the house or do
you have access to
>> Absolutely.
>> I used to do farmer carries a lot. I
love farmer carries.
>> There you go. But go with squats. Squats
will are the best thing to knock your
brain down when sleeping. Um, and heavy
ones like take your heaviest weights and
just start squatting and lunging um,
very heavily and you know when the next
day your legs hurt, you know that this
meant a good night of sleep last night.
If you kill your legs that it will like
put so much endorphins in your uh blood
and brain at like 8 or 900 p.m. or 10
p.m. when you sleep, you'll you'll sleep
very you'll go to sleep very fast and
then your quality of sleep, your REM
will be way higher. That's that's my
doctor's medicine for good sleep.
Impossible that you don't sleep if you
did like a leg day.
>> Yeah. No, thanks for that. I'm actually
going to research a a couple of the
things that you do. And
>> don't research, just do them.
>> Just do them. Well, that 81 sleep thing
that you were talking about. What is
that?
>> Oh, eight sleep.
>> Eight sleep.
>> Eight. Yeah, eight sleep. It's a
mattress
>> um that adapts to your body temperature
with AI and it uh shifts
your body depending on how you move at
night. Um, and uh, it has brown noise.
Uh, which is great. Brown noise, um,
[snorts]
yeah, like there's white noise and brown
noise. Brown noise is will shut pretty
much everything down, right? So, my room
here,
uh, blacked out curtains. We even have
like wall panels, so like you can't hear
anything. The brown noise is like at 71
out of 100 on [snorts] a sleep. uh my
mattress is like minus three and I put
earplugs on top of that. So is like is
very good sleeping conditions and then
one sleep hack
>> um for people right like I do two things
when I go to bed normally I added one
protocol on top of the second but the
first is just like try to meditate right
>> um so just meditation and the second is
tell yourself a story so like not
thinking of business that's like a
that's definitely a big no no I is
guilty of that lots of times because
when you start thinking about business
stuff depends on your personality but me
I'll think about another thing and
another thing it's like it's major
branch and that's why I have the perfect
brain to be successful in business is
because my brain it like branches out to
a bunch of things and I get to insights
very quickly but that's exactly why
>> I was a so so sleeper back then I used
to dream about business I would do
business with my pillow
>> I would wake up and like talk to my
pillow about business was so weird. Um,
[laughter] so I tell yourself a story
and we all have like a specific story
and me my story and that tells you a lot
about my personality
it's always the same. It's climbing
uh a cold mountain in the snow, right,
with Gogggins, David Gogggins, and
being chased by like special agents and
just like taking them out, right? It's
always that story.
>> And I I asked Chad GPT and Claude like,
"Is this good?" They tell they told me,
"No, this is ex exceedingly bad. It will
generate cortisol and will put you in
fight or flight. But guess what? Like
me, my brain, it's comfortable in
discomfort, in utter discomfort, right?
I could tell tell you about my
>> last 110k race in Brazil and you
understand. But me, I I love I drive in
like harsh conditions, right? Like I'm a
wartime CEO, so this get me to sleep
like in five minutes. Yeah, that advice
was for a nineto-5. I think [laughter]
>> 9 to5ers would go to sleep thinking
about porn and peanut butter jelly
sandwiches. I guess um that that was
time to advice.
the the I could track I could tell you
that my sleep has gone downhill ever
since some of these newer models came
out in AI because like once it became
once it became like hell I could do
something with this my mind couldn't
stop thinking about what I could do and
I think that was around like set 4.5
opus 4.5 4.6 fix and it's like that
that's when I could track specifically
that my sleep went downhill. So it's
like
>> but there's time for performance and
there's time for recovery, right? And
like mistaking boat is a fundamental
mistake because you won't be at your
your top when it's performance. And
>> right
>> think like there's always this argument
of like yeah sprinting as a hunter
taking your prey down eating right
recovery and performance.
I think that's pretty fun. If you're
always on then I feel the performances
start declining eventually. But I I know
what you're saying. Uh I mean it's
incredible, right? But um yeah, and I'm
all about like the AR arms race and the
agentic revolution and [ __ ] happening
super fast, [snorts] but there's other
um shades and colors to that equation.
For example, as of late, instead I I
don't feel I'm in my agentic phase yet,
right? Like ideally I'd have like
millions of agents under me, but me
right now I'm in my banking phase,
right? like I'm my identity right now is
an allocator. It's a banker. It's not
necessarily related to the agentic
revolution. I feel I still have time to
get in my agentic identity, right? And I
do vibe code on weekends and I do have
all these systems, but
and I am on a war path. I am on an
urgency plan, but I I don't feel
necessarily that we're on a path to
crack it yet with the LLMs, you know,
like we need some extra ingredients to
obtain super intelligence and for [ __ ]
to start go going incredibly fast and us
not sleeping and me popping medafanyl at
1:00 a.m. in the morning because
singularity is happening. Um, I feel we
still have time and I feel that as
humans we still need to develop more
skills than just hustling and taking
advantage of these models 247, right?
There's still that human magic, that
intuition. So, I definitely won't lose
sleep over that. But like I said, I
>> am also feeling that I'm on a plateau
and I need to move my [ __ ] ass. But I
know that if I would think of business
at night, it's [ __ ] would go downfall
from here. [laughter]
>> You're you've been in growth like for a
long time. Um I've seen your cold email
sort of skills firsthand and I think
they're amazing. Um what's the the most
overrated AI tactic in 2026? Uh yeah,
>> I mean AI cold emails been out like in
the last uh what five years, right? So
AI cold emails aren't new.
I still feel they have lots of potential
but most of these AI cold email
approaches come from or human brains is
like you need to find what works with
your human brain. These are like trends
in the moment trends and like tip of the
spear type of approaches in the realm of
cold email and try to reproduce them and
scale them with AI. That that's the
approach that still works. [snorts] But
like saying sending an AI personalized
intro to someone
about their latest LinkedIn post
still doesn't scale too much because and
the litmus for that is easy is that
people nowadays they scan the email and
they're like yeah their personalized
intro is it built by an AI or not? Does
it sound like an AI? And even even if it
remotely sounds like an AI they'll just
discard it. Right? So, I'd rather be
upfront with someone and send them like
a good offer like, "Hey, do you want to
come to my podcast or Spark Tank or VC
Summit?" That'll get me a higher
acceptance rate than starting with this
silly [ __ ] intro uh talking about
stuff that they potentially suspect is
not true.
>> Yeah, I I experienced that as well, too.
It's like once you once you feel like
somebody's using AI on you, even on a
LinkedIn post, it's like, okay, well,
I'm not reading it. Right. So, um,
and you've, uh,
what people have always been saying like
cold email is dead for the last year,
year and a half, but it still works. It
it's it's really good if you if you
format it correctly and you you do it
right.
>> Yes. I mean, it's dead for them, right?
Um, even cold calls, right? Like I used
to own a call center with 200 employees
and people are saying cold calling is
dead. And I guess it it es and flows. Of
course, it's not like being in the early
days of cold email. But if you check the
fundamentals of energies and the laws of
physics in the early days of cold email,
nothing was automated. So even if you
had a 10% reply rate on your 10 [ __ ]
emails, who cares? That's one reply.
>> Mhm.
>> When automation came and when it was
democratized to everyone, your reply
rate has gone down to two. But guess
what? You're sending now 20,000 emails.
That's 40 replies, right? 400 replies.
So yeah, people and humans generally,
they love to complain about stuff
they're not successful at and they're
frustrated at. Um, and most of these
guys, they probably want emotional
support more most more than they want
results, right? So it's like, yeah,
dude, sure. Keep believing cold email is
dead while the your competition is
eating your lunch, you know?
>> That's that's the best you can do, you
know? like haters will hate and I'm
guilty of hating sometimes as well. Um,
and also a good part of that is content,
right? It it looks very good for you to
start your LinkedIn post with cold email
is dead. It's a great hook, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Is it true? Probably not. Is most of the
content on social media true? Probably
not. Especially not on LinkedIn. It's
mostly theater, right? So, cold email
still works. um podcast as an offer and
a a funnel and a win-win human
psychology approach still 100% works you
know like humans want to win if I invite
you on a podcast and on cold email cold
email is just a medium right whether I
do it on LinkedIn and cold email has
very few incidents and and except that
LinkedIn they'll see my face higher
conversion rate but email there's
greater volume so volume typically works
uh quantity wins over quality and that
they're part of the same equation,
right? So, it still very much works. Um,
I definitely won't start doing Tik Tok
ads and all of this as a channel because
I target B2B
and me it's more of an ecosystem type of
thing. So, yeah, top of funnel start
with cold email doesn't really matter.
It's like I'm going to build a
relationship with that person [snorts]
and they're going to enter my little
ecosystem and then they're going to
start referring me people. and they can
start closing for me and then we can
build the greatest foundary ecosystem in
the world which is what we're building
together right and I think this foundry
ecosystem will resist the shock of AGI
right that's that's my full thesis it's
like helping entrepreneurs making
founders better and creating a AGI uh
resistant community
>> I like that a lot and you you you sort
of put this in your LinkedIn title
you're a power broker And I guess that
comes from the fact that you're building
these relationships and that you have
certain connections and you also have
the technical skills to do what you do
as well. Talk about that title.
>> Yeah, so like I said previously, people
are checking in the direction of vibe
coding and building agents and I'm
looking in that direction as well and I
may be testing stuff all the time, but
my thesis especially and everything I'm
designing needs to be AGI resistant. AGI
is 100% going to happen. The job
disruption 100% going to happen. I've
talked to so many delusional founders
and SEALs. I've talked to a couple of
few very intelligent people educated
that do agree with that thesis. It's
100% going to happen. There's nothing uh
that can stand against that. It's just
like a timeline, right? So when there's
a social aspect of it, there's needs to
be human adoption and so forth. So while
people are looking in the direction of
oh let's use AI I'm looking the
direction of what will be AI resistance
right so what's AI resistant is human
relationships
uh people for a very long time will only
want to still buy from humans and will
trust humans and they'll be a great
distress especially on the agentic side
of things so if you can insert yourself
as a node of all the biggest power
players in the world all the biggest
companies in the world, all the best
founders and allocators in the world and
operators, then this gives me a trillion
dollar moat. Um because I will be part
of the discussion as per oh we want to
uh spend a billion dollar for this
contract like how do we make it up? Oh,
Charles Charles is like middleman. Oh,
Charles will take a percentage of that
because I'm trusted and I already
delivered. Right now, it's in GTM and
fundraising, right? [snorts] And I'm
just a power broker. I know everyone
that matters in the space of B2B and
founders and CEOs and VCs. That's my
[ __ ] And that's why I consider myself
as a banker right now and quote unquote
broker. I'd rather be a banker than
broker and all locator. While most
people are checking on the tech stack of
things, I'm still yeah
>> playing in the fundamentals. And these
fundamentals are not about to be
reshaped. Uh even by AGI, even when [ __ ]
moves super fast, I'll have agents come
to me to ask me if they they can be
introduced to someone in my network,
right? And that that still doesn't move
away. It's complex that thesis. There's
a lot of moving pieces and you need to
filter who you let in. You need to add
value to these people. at scale with
technology in my case. So that's the
that's the main game I' I'm playing
right now. That's the main game I've
thought about and AB tested with
everything that's happening in that
market and I feel will scale for a very
long time. This is my bank account
basically.
>> I fully agree. There's not going to be a
future where humans are not part of the
equation and we're still going to trust
each other more than we trust code. Um,
even though
we like to say that uh code is law
sometimes in crypto. Um,
>> yeah.
>> Yeah, I love code, too. So, talk to me
about like these three businesses that
you have. You're you're married, you've
got a daughter. Like, what's what's
keeping this from collapsing? Is it this
regimented sleep 9 hours, go do the the
30k? Like, how are you holding it
together?
>> Yeah. five dogs and all kinds of [ __ ]
And but even dogs and wives and
daughters, they're not noise to the
system. They are the system.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. Um the dogs, they're love
machines, you know, like constant amount
of love. And what do I give them back?
Well, I give them love. I give them
walks. I give them physical activity. I
give them play. Give them food, water,
uh shelter, right? like it's it's all
systems. the [snorts] wife it's not
she's not taking from me of course like
uh it's challenging to build uh scalable
relationships because relationships is
like like I like we talked earlier right
in childhood we both come from different
background different icebergs and then
both of us collide right and it's like
oh what is compatible what is not what
needs to be adapted but it's a system in
itself and I've worked on that system
for the past 10 years and you can tell
me the same it's it's challenging But
it's beautiful, right? What you get. Um,
which again, what's the output of that?
It's love. It's And love is
>> Mhm. I
>> think it's still misunderstood. It's
still certainly chemicals and serotonins
and dopamine and all of that, but it's
the underlying factor, right? Like once
you remove capitalism and all the noise,
what you get is love in humans. And that
that's beautiful. Same for the daughter.
the daughter's
infinite love machine times a thousand,
right? It's there's nothing more
beautiful than
>> than that. And it it brings a sense of
peace. And for folks like I that are
very
cold, rational, technical, it's we need
that else we just implode, right? It's
uh
>> it's intriguing. So how do I keep it all
together? Well, systems, right? So uh
sleep is one. Um, physical activity is
one, dogs is one. Um,
>> general business philosophies, right?
Like I don't work with schmucks. I've
stopped doing that. That was stressful,
right? Like back then when I started my
business, I used to work with realtors
and sometimes finish the day and you
have all that stress, that noise hanging
up to you because these [ __ ] dumb
asses don't know how to manage their
lives and their business and they put
their stress on you.
>> Yeah. and you know like they they rely
on you to to hold them together right so
that's not a system that's a broken
system and that that brings all kinds of
negative back to your life so nowadays I
just work with people I want to be like
you know like very successful founders
with many exits 10 million plus nets and
it's just inspiring to be around them
and to build stuff with them and to
partner up with them right to get equity
in their sheds So that's that's another
system, you know, Sunny Sunny's a system
in itself doesn't add stress to my life.
I don't add stress to his life. It's
win-win, right? So at at and to start
where we started that interview, right?
Like not giving your [ __ ] for free. When
you give your [ __ ] for free, you attack
you attract schmucks, right? You attract
takers. You attract like predators, but
like the beta kind of predator, right?
Low in the food chain.
>> Don't want to be around these people.
they just take and they just run away
with your stuff, right? Like hyenas,
[ __ ] hyenas. Um, so all kinds of
stuff like that. But the the common
denominator here is just AB testing
stuff in your life, seeing what works,
what doesn't. Is it a system or is it
like a a clog in the system, right? Is
is it noise or is it like real signal?
And you do that enough time in your
personal life, in your business, um,
>> stuff starts flowing and slowly scaling.
>> And that's that's my life. The thing is
with the plateau I'm describing, maybe
I'm growing too slow, right? Maybe I'm
comparing myself with folks I shouldn't
compare myself with.
>> Um, like me, I wanted to be that way,
but I'm I'm going like this, right? Uh,
[snorts] but then the question is, for
example, if I would want to be Elon,
right? Like I go like this in business,
but I go like that in most other life
areas. Health, relationships, and all of
this. I still want to win the game
very big and like yeah, make it Elon big
for sure. 10x, 100x, the thousandx what
what he does, whatever that means. But I
I go with scale. I I'm not down to to
risk it all on the table and rely on
luck to to win, right? I want systems. I
want something predictable and something
that compounds Warren Buffett style, you
could say.
>> Yeah. One thing that you said, I mean,
all of that's great. Um, but the one
thing that you said uh about
love and how you get sort of renewed and
rejuvenated by that, like I could have a
terrible day. And then the moment one of
my kids tells me like they love me, it's
like it just recharges me. So, I totally
get where where that's coming from. And
I don't I don't think that's ever
replaceable. So, I think uh thank you
for that. It it helped me. Um, what are
you building right now that you're
totally obsessed about? And I know you
said that you feel like you're
plateauing, but like, um, where do what
what do you what's next for you? And
where can people find you?
>> Yeah. What's next is like GM Ventures
and Raz Rocket as cash cows to build
stuff that is more scalable like raise
now.AI that I'm building with Sunny.
It's a aic uh fundraising raise.ai. It's
pretty fun. Uh that's what we're
building next. We're raising capital for
this. Uh already over subscribed, so not
like I I'm raising more right now. Um
what's next?
I mean, I have a bunch of things for
this year. The 125k race will be quite
epic. Me and Sunny are organizing a
mastermind in Waka. You're definitely
invited. So, you should come to that. Uh
that's going to be pretty fun. uh here
first the Wajaka Mountains and at the
beach August 17th or something like
that. um launching [snorts] my fund
mactf fun.com.
Uh it's going to invest in YC companies
10 million per batch and then I'm going
to hatch all these other fund thesises
because why not raise as much money as
possible and invest as much in the best
companies as possible which fills my
eeky guy life mission financial goals.
I think I think that's what's next. And
then the power broker thing that should
evolve fully into Charles building
agents full-time I believe next year.
And
I my my life goal and business goal in
the next 5 10 years is like being part
of Frontier AI and probably have my own
Frontier AI lab uh and contributing to
everything that's happening [snorts]
making discoveries
uh potentially
fostering agentic science right like
these AI scientists that can learn from
their hypothesis and and conclusions and
just branch out with new discoveries and
faster think that can benefit humanity
gigantically. So really deploying my
agentic wings in the next couple of
years. Um fascinating times for sure and
I guess like staying in the present as
well and just enjoying what I have and
being grateful right and stopping and
being grateful and fixing some of my
systems that are going sideways.
>> Yeah. One one thing I met with your
co-founder Sunny uh and you know he he
said you know there's he's an incredibly
wise guy um not in that sense but like
uh in the literal sense and he says like
you know there's a lot of people out
there that have um like you said Elon's
going this way but in other aspects he's
going that way and like sometimes just
even holding our families together is is
a win right so like I totally get that
>> and yourself yourself right like
>> dude 80% of humans are broken and are
not in control of themselves
>> and I even won't claim that I'm not that
kind of human sometimes you know
>> so even just holding yourself together
is enough right that's incredibly hard
and in this modern society with that
much noise just that is a win just that
is something to be grateful just being
aware of the fact that you're alive
right now and that you're here, right?
Like that's a victory.
>> Well, we'll end on that. Charles, I
appreciate your time and uh thanks for
coming