Hype Pod - The Hype Network Podcast

Arun: Welcome to episode 49
of the hype, almost 50 pod.

We're almost at 50.

We're going to have to save 50.

May I go to 51, 52.

And then when we're all
back together, we'll 50.

I like that.

Yeah.

We'll come back to 50.

Um, but how you guys been?

It's been a while since the
band's been back together.

Oh man.

It's been a minute.

Yeah.

You're

Ps Adam: busy.

Yeah.

You're busy.

I've been busy, uh, but, uh, yeah, no,
I've been, I've been really well, uh,

very happy and been doing a lot of travel.

Um, kind of like, not
just a lot of travel.

I think it's been a lot of a, you
know, when you go through one of

those seasons where you kind of
reset a lot and you restructure

and you kind of recoup and regroup.

And so that's kind of what the zone I've
been in and, uh, looking at, uh, the

vision scaling for the next 10 years.

And what do we, what have we got now
systems to be able to scale and, uh, Been

a lot of kind of head down, bum up, so
to speak on, uh, you know, busy, busy,

busy trying to get the structure set.

And, uh, I'll say this, I'm very,
very excited about the future.

Very excited about what we're
building and how we're building it.

And, uh, I just feel invigorated
with vision and strategy.

Well,

Vance: you, you said something, right?

You're, you're like in 10 years
in your reflection in 10 years,

it's either going to be genius.

Ps Adam: Yep.

It's either one or the two.

There's no middle ground.

That's for sure.

Um, and, uh, really for me, it's
been a journey of, uh, you know,

in November, we launched a pretty
audacious vision for the church.

Um, and, you know, you, you, you
kind of launch a vision, cast a

vision, uh, to see how it sticks.

And if it sticks, well, then
you got to go, well, let's

figure out how to build it.

You don't figure out how
to build it before you, you

know, get the buy in for it.

And so since that church has had a
radical buy in, uh, we are currently,

I think at 102 percent fulfilled
on the vision, which I've never.

Been in that over a hundred percent
fulfilled, uh, that shows the church is

invigorated also, and the responsibility
to recalibrate and restructure is a

very exciting journey for every stage.

I think of a company build,
you need to kind of look at

is what we've got scalable.

What moves do we have to make
to, to kind of hit the goal?

And, uh, yeah, we're right in the
middle of that midst of that right now.

Would you describe it more as

Vance: audacious?

For people that don't know, uh, pastor
Adam launched a hundred campus a

hundred location vision for Vibe Church.

Would you, uh, characterize it
more audacious or ambitious?

Ps Adam: Um,

Vance: it could be both, but like,
I think it could be a little bit.

Which one would you pick?

Ps Adam: I think it depends
on your context, right?

Mm-hmm.

I think outside it's probably
ambitious, uh, internally,

I think it's just audacious.

Vance: Yeah,

Ps Adam: because I know the,
I know the quality of people

that we have in our church.

Great.

I think from.

A couple of people last week at a
conference we were both at, I had

a few people probably refer it.

To it as ambitious, they
actually said that word.

Oh, that's pretty ambitious.

And I, and I thought, I don't want
to take offense to that because

it could be a little bit offensive
if someone said that's ambitious,

because it's not my ambition.

Like this is really the leading
of the Holy spirit and in good

collaboration with leaders in our
church, but it's still a big gap.

That's what makes it audacious.

Yeah.

And so I've always used
that language audacity.

It's audacity.

That's, that's part of the fabric of vibe.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Um, the audacity of our God.

Like, you can do it.

Yeah, based, exactly, based
on what I know about God.

Sure, sure.

And really what I feel is in
the context of our church, it

requires an audacious vision.

Otherwise, uh, you have
permission to be offended with

me if I give you a small vision.

Vance: Right.

Low expectations.

Ps Adam: Low expectations
should be offensive.

Um, high expectations should be exciting.

Arun: Yeah.

Which part of this process is difficult
for you not to like blabber this

point, but cause you get it from God.

So it's like, kind of like you have
freedom to be audacious, but what part

of this process is it just now delivering
it to the rest of the congregation?

Ps Adam: No, I think
I, I get part from God.

So with this vision,
I got really the, the.

Really being transparent.

I know we were only in the
introduction, but I'm straight into it.

Yeah.

I mean, we're making
up for lost time guys.

Uh, really, honestly, the, the hundred
locations I came up with, but when I was

around the team of, uh, leaders that I
pulled together, they came up with the 10

years.

Ps Adam: So it was essentially
the, the team of like, uh, leaders

that I had around me that made it

audacious

Ps Adam: because a hundred locations
over a hundred years is pretty lame.

Uh, but in 10 years, that's
what makes it audacious.

So it wasn't just me.

It was us as a team.

And that's what actually
gives me a lot of confidence.

Vance: Well, is it, is it lame
or is it not representative

of what you were saying?

The people that is surrounding you.

It's probably not

Ps Adam: lame.

That's probably a little bit,
you know, because a lot of

people are not going to plant.

I mean, there's one church
for a hundred years old.

That'd be cool.

But, um, yeah, maybe, maybe lame.

No, you're saying contextually to your,
uh, situation, I think, you know, in

the context of we're in the Silicon
Valley, uh, we have people who want to

change the world and we want to give
a red hot go of that in our lifetime.

I think, uh, for me, my best
years are my next 10 years.

And so, uh, what, what can I do
with my best years in the next 10

years to really sprint hard, work
hard, build an impact on this earth.

And then, uh, see what
the next, that's also a

Vance: cool framework.

Right.

To just, just say like my next 10
years is going to be my best 10.

Yep.

Yeah.

You have that choice.

Like, was there a, a situation where
you're like, no, I'm just going

to choose the next 10 years, my.

You know, best 10 years, or is that

Ps Adam: like an actual like framework?

No, I think there's always
a temptation to glide.

There's always a temptation just
to coast and be like, man, we've

built something that we just carry
this and we could just maintain it.

I think that is the secret death mill for
your career or your, uh, I guess ministry.

I think you have to have a, uh, you have
to sell yourself on the belief that the

next 10 is the best 10 and it's going
to be better than any 10 before this.

And I think if you just frame it with
that, you'll go in with an expectation.

I'm going to work hard.

Vance: Yeah.

I've been saying this language.

I've just been kind of fleecing it
within the staff and that overflow.

I gotta, I got the best job ever.

Right.

Yeah, I got the best job ever.

I keep saying it.

And then I keep telling people when
I'm on different, uh, you know,

work trips and things like that.

I'm like, you got the best job ever.

And, and I can see the language starting
to catch because it's substantiated

with a lot of purposeful work.

Uh, and it's just powerful, right?

Arun: Yeah.

It's so crazy how, what
you say can just manifest.

It's like, right.

You set up yourself by the words
that come out of your mouth, right?

Like you just create this verbiage.

We used to call it like the best church.

Best church ever.

The best church ever, right?

It offended a lot of people,

Ps Adam: uh, because they misunderstood.

We weren't being obnoxious.

The whole idea was the best church
ever is the one you're investing in.

Of course.

And the best job ever.

Is the one that you're committing
your heart to, so it is a statement,

but you know, people misread it.

Yeah,

Arun: but I feel like it's cool to
start with all this optimism, you

know, joy, because right now, you
know, things aren't looking too hot.

If you, you know, you're in
the U S and the economy's kind

of been crashing a little bit.

I'm curious where you
guys are at with that.

And it's great to hear that things are
going well for you guys, but where you

guys are at, what you guys are hearing.

Um, cause I'd love to chat about
the tariffs, the government cuts.

I have some like notes on it
that I want to chat about, but

just like overall sentiment for
you guys, where you guys are at.

Ps Adam: Yeah.

I mean, sure.

I mean, we're seeing, I mean,
this is interesting, right?

Uh, we've got.

Uh, I think it's very polarizing at
the moment, of course, uh, government

is, uh, what I'm optically seeing is
yes, there are parts of the economy

that are struggling, stock market.

Options are good.

Um, you know, every time the stock
market's down, options are up.

And so depending on where you're
investing is whether or not this

is a good time or a hard time.

Um, but you know, I think
it really depends on what

your position is right now.

If you have lost, you know, gain.

I mean, Vance and I have said this in
the past, um, when a stock market's

down, it's only bad if you sell.

Vance: Yeah.

Right?

Ps Adam: So if you hold your position
knowing that there is a rebound or if

you can double down in this season and
purchase, now's a good time to buy.

So, uh, it's, it's really hard to buy
when the stock market's booming, you're

looking at everything in the green.

You're like, do I, I don't want
to buy high, I want to buy low.

So it's really about your state,
your stability and your reserves.

Um, this actually, believe it or not.

Throughout history, people
who have made moves in economy

is when the economy is down.

Of course.

Ps Adam: So, if you're, if you're
like really fragile right now,

it's because you've been over
leveraged in a good economy.

Right.

And so what this should teach
you is another wave of cycle.

And you gotta zoom out and look over.

Time that there's ups, downs,
there's peaks, there's troughs.

If you can position yourself with reserves
for a trough to make a big move when

you get the gains, then you're actually
building wealth in those seasons.

You know?

Yeah, totally.

I know that didn't put an answer
to your question, but yeah,

Vance: I wish I could care more.

I just don't have a lot
of money in the market.

Like, but I wish, I wish I felt it.

It'd be nice to be upset.

I'd be like, man, I wish
I was mad, you know?

Uh, you know, cause.

Just with overflow, we put a lot into
that and, and, you know, just housing

and the Bay Area, all that type of stuff.

I think what's interesting is anything
related to the investment, kind of

like what Pastor Adam is saying, unless
you're a day trader, you always have

to take the long term view, right?

Um, in these seasons, it actually
shouldn't affect you as much

if you are invested into the
market because you want a dollar.

Cost average.

Right.

You know, all the way down.

All the way up.

Uh, because over time, if you have
conviction in something, it, you

know, when you zoom Tesla out Yeah.

It's up into the Right, right, right.

It looks crazy.

Mm-hmm . In between.

Yeah.

But when you zoom out, it's up
to the right, apple's up and

to the right, right, right.

These companies that you have conviction
on, they're up into the right.

And so I, I think that.

People that freak out will just
freak out in general in life.

I do think what you brought up though
with the tariffs is an interesting thing.

Because as I started trying to understand
terrorists more, I think it's pretty

much consensus that economically
it's net net a bad move, right?

Uh, because of just the increased costs.

That it provides everybody and it hurts
the consumer because like the providers

here that are providing those services
and the products to Americans are

just going to increase their prices.

Right?

So economically, I think, you
know, it does seem to, uh, lead to

inflationary activity and saying that
I don't think that Trump is doing it.

For the economy.

I think he's just doing it to
show everybody who's in charge.

I feel like he doesn't
just play economic games.

Uh, from what I've seen, I think he's
playing like social games as well.

Uh, and maybe game is a little
bit trite to say it like that,

but he's playing social dynamics.

I feel like.

Yeah.

Arun: There's one thing that, cause
I've been looking into it too.

You just hear all this like
rhetoric and it's like, I need to

understand really what is kind of
the reasons he might be doing it.

So like one other.

Side to that is that he's
actually trying to bring the

manufacturing back into the US.

Sure, right?

So you make everything more expensive.

It's not

Vance: it's not necessarily
the most efficient system.

Definitely not definitely not

Arun: So the idea is you create these
trade wars and ideally both sides

realize it's beneficial for us to
figure out some common ground And then

you negotiate better terms because
I think the thing that most people

are talking about is we have actually
terrible terms Yeah, most countries.

Yep.

And so it's probably trying
to fix a lot of this.

He's trying to renegotiate He's trying
to renegotiate and the only way you can

do that is create some leverage, right?

So Doing this helps us there, but
actually, um, on the last All In podcast,

David Freeberg created this whole
narrative of what's the most optimistic

case for everything that Trump is doing.

And so there's three
pillars that he talks about.

One is tariffs.

Okay.

Um, the second is the taxes,
like reducing income tax.

Yep.

And the third is reducing
government spend.

And so it's actually all three
working in unison that allows us

to get to where we want to get.

Um, but it's so drastic of a change that
it's causing so many hiccups, right?

And so it's, it's like, this is what
people voted for when they voted for

Trump, is they want to change, right?

But then seeing it actually
happen is very disruptive.

Ps Adam: It's disruptive, but
I think what you could do as a

consumer and as an American, it
could affect your spending habits.

What you're going to buy, what
vehicle you're going to buy,

you know, it's going to inflate
different prices on different things.

Is it going to Does it affect
your day to day necessities?

Not exactly because your eggs will
meet all that kind of stuff is within

country already, but on your new car
purchase or on all those kinds of things.

Yeah, those kinds of things.

It will affect that.

If you were in a, you know,
in, into that season of life.

I think The long term view is it brings a
lot more onshore manufacturing, American

manufacturing, things that we are reliant.

And I don't think, I don't think
Trump likes the word of reliant.

Who are we reliant on?

How can we be self reliant as a country?

And when you're talking about a
lever, if you have a self reliance,

then you've got the level.

I don't need you.

That's a great bargaining chip.

If you need somebody, that's
a bad bargaining chip.

You have actually
limited bargaining power.

But if, if it's not that we need
you, but we just would like to.

That's a great position to negotiate on.

And I think you've got to bring
onshore manufacturing first build

out so that you have leverage.

Arun: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Definitely.

Um, and then the other part of this
was the stuff that Doge is doing.

And I want to talk about, you know,
where Elon's at with all this.

Um, if you, and I'm just going to
look it up because it's on doge.

is like the official site.

So current estimated
savings is 105 billion.

That's a lot.

Um, again, this is all.

Still needs to be verified
by like third party sources.

This is all kind of the stuff
by the, the Doge organization.

So, you know, you take it with a
grain of salt and even Trump, I

mean, even Elon has said, we're
not going to get everything right.

Like, you know, we will admit when we die,
but that's what I appreciate about him.

It's like, he's very transparent
about this entire process.

Right.

But there are a lot of people
out there trying to attack him.

Oh my gosh.

Tesla, there Grock and Twitter.

There was all the defamation
visualization of like.

Okay.

So let's talk about the

Ps Adam: cyber attacks.

I mean, can I just caveat this with
saying, Hey, now is a good time

to buy Tesla stock, because it's

Arun: cool.

It's down like 50 percent or something.

It's low.

Ps Adam: It's a, it's a
bargain sale right now.

Um, but you know, you've got the cyber
attacks, you've got the cyber truck

attacks, you've got the Tesla, you
know, uh, things there's, uh, I think

I posted something on the weekend.

I drove out of church.

I drove down to Los Altos and there was
literally a guy who was driving his Tesla.

With a, uh, really like crappy sign
stuck on the back, uh, you know,

stop Musk and stuff like this.

I'm like, hang on.

The irony is crazy.

Yeah.

What?

Yeah.

It's crazy.

There's just

Arun: a big protest.

If you were just selling their
cars for cheap to like protest.

People, uh,

Ps Adam: people are willing to take an L.

Yeah.

Right.

Big time.

Here's, here's the, uh.

That's the picture.

That was the car.

Okay.

Check this out.

I get it.

I got to get it under
the social media team.

But, uh, it was hilarious.

Right.

And I'm like, that's just ironic.

You're, you're driving a Tesla
and you're saying stop mask.

Hang on.

So I think for me, maybe I wanted
to ask you guys, is this just, you

know, entrenched party lines that
even though you've got Elon, who

is on a mission to save Americans.

Money to save taxpayer money and
I believe the goal has even been

if they can save enough They'll
give everyone a 5, 000 tax refund.

That's what they're talking about.

Yeah, that's that's what
they're talking about Where

does the virtual hate come from?

Is it just a flow on from their
Trump derangement syndrome?

That's now Elon derangement syndrome
Have they convinced that this is net

negative to save money for the government
to get us out of that much debt?

Like where do you feel that
the angst is coming from?

What is the argument Arun?

Arun: So I will tell you Yeah,
i'll tell you the chatter.

What are you hearing in the streets Arun?

So i'm basically hearing that this
is exposing a lot of government fraud

This is basically exposing a lot of
misuse of funds and the people that

are most angry Are the ones that were
once getting away with this and are

now no longer getting away with this.

Right?

Are

Ps Adam: we talking FBI, CIA, BlackRock?

What are we talking here?

I don't know exactly,

Arun: I don't know exactly which
organization, but I think all of

the ones that, have you heard about
all the stuff that, you know, USAID?

Yes.

The DEI, where the funds are going.

All the people that
are benefiting from it.

Right, right, right.

There's a lot of people that we're
using, I think they're called NGOs or

something, these vehicles essentially.

Oh yes, yes, NGOs.

Yeah, they're to kind of transfer
funds where they shouldn't

be going, essentially, right?

There was a lot of unchecked essentially
play happening in the government and

now it's getting checked and that's
where I think the hate is coming from.

I don't think it's coming from the general
person that thinks Oh, this is a bad idea.

I think it's misinformation being spread.

But they're definitely recruiting

Ps Adam: and triggering there.

You're right.

Agreed.

Arun: Agreed.

Ps Adam: So, because the general person
to put a sign on the back of their

Tesla has to be triggered by some
media narrative that they're receiving.

It's interesting how people
can get radicalized, huh?

Arun: Yeah.

No, they're getting

Ps Adam: radicalized.

Uh, for sure.

And I mean, I understand it.

So there was, I mean, uh, Elon put
out this, this statement, I think it

was on a podcast where he was talking
about, there was this one dude who,

who was get a one dude, one NGO.

Let's say one NGO who was
get, who had been signed off

on getting a billion dollars.

Yeah.

I heard that.

But then the person left the, you know,
USAID and it never got turned off.

So they would just every year
can get in that billion dollars.

That person's mad.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

And if I stopped my billion
dollar paycheck every year, I'd

probably radicalize some people.

Vance: Right.

Yeah.

And that person probably saved
up 10 billion and now can

hire an army to radicalize.

I mean, it's like kind of the

Ps Adam: Soros

Vance: playbook.

Ps Adam: That is the Soros playbook.

You know, hire people, protest,
stand out the front, cause a drama.

Vance: Yeah.

Ps Adam: I do

Vance: feel like it's a racket.

Cause again, I just,

Ps Adam: Oh, it's a
hundred percent a racket.

I

Vance: always feel like, am I in a bubble?

Cause like most people I talk
to that are reasonable and I

still live in the Bay area.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Vance: Um, are not hitting on Ilan.

I even saw Gavin Newsome have a
conversation with Charlie Kirk.

Oh, please talk about it.

That was wild.

Please tell us about it.

I feel like Gavin was like agreeing
with most of what Charlie was saying.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, he was

Ps Adam: almost fanboying Charlie.

He was fanboying.

He's

Vance: like, my son loves

Ps Adam: you.

Vance: I'm like, wait,
wait, what's going on?

I think Charlie was confused.

No, Charlie was so taken aback.

Hang on.

Charlie was ready to fight and
he's like, Oh, this is pleasant.

Cause Gavin said, I appreciate you.

Like.

50 times.

Yeah.

I was like, this is amazing.

Yeah, that was, that was really weird.

Because I, I think when you just kind
of carry out the logical conversation,

there are just a lot of things, you
know, Gavin did push back on some areas.

Where I think it's very thin, but it's
like, um, Hey, I believe in fairness.

So they were talking about how 870
medals to date that they recorded has

been won by, you know, transgender.

Yeah.

Um, and even Gavin was saying,
Hey, I don't disagree on fairness.

That's unfair.

He was like, agree with that, but you
know, we just got to make sure not to

talk down on them because they have higher
risk of suicide and things like that.

Right.

And so he, he's pushing back on
empathy cards and things like that,

which is still the left playbook.

But it was interesting that
it wasn't that much pushback.

Yeah.

Most of it was like pretty
agreeable, which I was like,

what, what is this podcast?

Did it

Arun: change your tune on Gavin at all?

Because I heard, I just
saw the feedback after.

No.

Ps Adam: No, it actually made
me have less respect for Gavin.

Because he didn't stand on his Well,
no, like, if, you're just playing

to whoever's in front of you.

I feel like you're just playing to party.

He does have, he has zero convictions.

I wanna, I wanna see, I have more
respect for a leader who had,

like, a really strong conviction.

Not just what's gonna win him the seat.

And, uh, that's what he revealed.

He revealed he's just He's

snaky.

He

Ps Adam: just wants to play to whoever.

He'll even play to Charlie.

He'll play to people.

He's backtracked some things.

He said, it's like, Oh, you
are a classic politician.

He is a politician through and through.

And I think his position on transgender.

I mean, even we saw in the Senate,
uh, yesterday you had the house chair.

Uh, they're, they're upset
cause he misgendered that

new transgender, uh, Senator.

Yeah.

And, uh, called him by his Mr.

name instead of Mrs.

This recently happened?

Yesterday.

Happened yesterday.

Oh my goodness.

Um, you should see the clip.

And, uh, they, you know, they
had to call off the meeting,

had to adjourn the meeting.

But this person is not going
to, from the chair's position,

I'm not going with a lie.

We have a man who is dressed up as a
woman, and I'm not going to play the game.

And then people are
getting upset with that.

It was funny because I was like, I saw
the comments and the comments are like,

Oh, the guy who got upset is a true ally.

And they kept, everyone kept
using the word ally, ally, ally.

And I'm like, Oh, a real
ally doesn't tell a lie.

That's what I was thinking.

And I wanted to put in the comments,
but I, you know, got distracted, but I'm

like, No, you're going along with a lie.

That's not an ally.

That's not, that's not truth.

And I think that what we're actually
seeing now is the confrontation of

people who want to be truth tellers
and people who are going to go along

with a lie just to be nice, like Gavin.

Arun: Yeah,

Ps Adam: yeah, yeah.

Sure.

Arun: Yeah, and so just taking this
back to where you were asking is like,

where is this coming from, right?

Like, where is all of this
sentiment towards Elon coming from?

I actually don't know because I was
looking for the same thing because

I'm confused as well because it seems
like such a good Like, you know,

he's trying to do the right thing.

So I'm like, am I getting deceived?

You know, I'm on Twitter.

So like, that's where Elon's
kind of posting all this stuff.

Am I getting it from the wrong places?

So I've been asking people
like, what are your issues?

Like people that are on the other side
of this, it's like, what are your issues?

And it was a lot of, he's moving too fast.

He's breaking a lot of things.

It feels like he's going unchecked.

People think he's moving too fast.

Yeah.

In what way?

They feel like he has like, like, like
for some of the stuff that's happened

recently, where it's like, if you don't
respond to this email, you will get fired.

Like you, that's called

Ps Adam: normal work.

Agreed.

That's right.

That's called normal.

No, I can understand for somebody who's
done anything for the last 12 months.

Whoa, guys, this is really, you want
me to do something for this money?

Sure.

Okay.

Hey, I actually have to turn up.

Whoa, slow down Elon.

But in an Elon environment, this
is like basic bare essentials.

Right.

I

Arun: agree.

Like you don't get rockets to
Mars by doing one thing a year.

Right.

There's this, there's this sentiment
though, on the other side, that it

feels like he's going to break things.

That we won't be able to come back from
because like his idea is we'll break,

we'll move fast, we'll break, and then
we'll figure out what we actually need.

And then we'll bring it back.

But people think that he's going
to break too much too quickly.

Ps Adam: Okay.

Play that out.

Arun: So I think the one argument would
be with the cuts that are having in

education right now, I think it was like
50%, um, cuts essentially to education.

And the idea was there
was a lot of young people.

Um, this is something I heard online.

There was a lot of young people that
went into education when they could

have take private sector kind of job.

And like, just been in it for the
money, but like they took this

government job and it was supposed to
kind of help push education forward.

And now you are taking that away.

And so it's like, now more people
would be less likely to get into

the government sector and would
want to go into the private sector.

So they, I think it

Ps Adam: was, uh, Vivek that came out
originally with the education accusation

is that none of this is actually getting
through to students or teachers, right?

That all of it's staying in bureaucracy,
all of it's going to, uh, really non

schooling or non essential programming.

So it's getting stuck in mid levels
and it just keeps getting fatter

and fatter and none of that is
actually getting through to schools.

That's why schools are
still asking for funding.

And so I don't think it's going
to break anything except the the

people who are scamming the system

Vance: Yeah, I don't know what they're
feeding people to radicalize them to

boycott tesla and things like that.

I think tesla is a fantastic
product I think I would recommend

buying a tesla Uh, I have I have a
tesla Donald Trump's buying Tesla.

Donald Trump's buying Tesla.

Donald Trump's buying Tesla.

The whole fleet of Tesla's just
in front of the White House.

It is kind of comical though,
like that Elon needs help,

he's really hurting right now.

I love that Trump was like
200 billion to 150 billion.

He's like, we got to really help this guy.

It's like, Trump was like,
I'm going to write the check.

No discount.

Okay.

Thank you.

One

car.

Arun: Hold my beer.

He saved

Ps Adam: Tesla.

One car at a time.

That's amazing.

Um,

Vance: it is a vote of confidence.

I would say that it's America's car now.

What's interesting to me though, uh, is.

How powerful he is getting, that is
something that I don't have any actual

current problems I can point to with
Elon, but I do find it interesting that

he's getting more and more powerful.

Ps Adam: Pull the thread
on that for a minute.

What does that play out in your
Yeah, just like satellites,

Vance: right?

Uh, you know, um,
spaceships, internet, right?

Transportation and now government, right?

And I was asking somebody.

Uh, that used to work really closely
with him, you know, just about

his take and things like that.

And he's in a similar position to me.

Uh, cause I was like, Hey, just assure me.

Ilan's a good guy, right?

Cause he's, he's getting really powerful
and he goes, um, I think he's a good guy.

I think he'll do the right thing.

One thing that he found interesting
was right after Trump won and he was

facilitating one of the rallies, he
did notice that it looked like Ilan was

really loving the positive attention.

And so obviously people
would, you're human.

But I just, I thought
that was interesting.

Um, and so I don't know what, uh, types
of checks and balances, uh, continue to

remain in place because he's probably
one of the most, I don't know, since

the Rockefellers powerful people we've
seen on the planet in a really, really

long time, you know what I mean?

Ps Adam: I think the difference
is we're just seeing it.

In front, not behind.

Totally.

I think this has always happened.

Always happened.

Yeah.

But it's always happened.

He's more transparent about it.

Yeah.

He's being right up front, which means
it comes with a lot of risk, death

threats, you know, all that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

Uh, you know, losing $50 billion out
of your net worth mm-hmm . Because

of your names connected to products
and all that kind of stuff.

So I think it's, um, the risk,
uh, is what's keeping, probably

gonna keep a lot in check as well.

Yeah,

Arun: what do you guys think if you
guys had to make your best guess

do you think he is a good person?

He's trying to do this for the right
reasons or do you feel like there is

an ulterior motive and he is I think
he's Good the business behind it.

Ps Adam: No, I think what I might take on
Elon Musk is he has a genuine concern for

humanity and the Longevity of humanity.

He's expressed that in his concern on
the birth rate And so obviously he's

personally doing a lot to help that.

Um, and he wants to, uh, make
humanity a, is it an interplanetary,

uh, What do you call it?

Species.

He wants to have humans not be a
singular planetary species just

for, you know, in his case for
that was looking back over time.

There's been, you know, seismic
shifts in human population.

There's been, you know,
asteroids, you know, dinosaurs,

all those things been wiped out.

So hey, let's preserve humanity by,
you know, having people on Mars,

you know, in a cataclysmic event.

I think for me, that tells me, and I've
obviously have a different morality

perspective on, on spirituality,
but for him, I think he has a

deep concern for the human race.

And so he's building things that will
enhance the human race and prolong

the existence of the human race.

I think he's thinking at that
level, not on a personal level.

Beneficiary level personally,

Vance: I think he's escaped, you
know, the need for any of that, right?

Yeah, so he probably is not
motivated by that anymore.

I prefer salvation occasionally, honestly,
like I pray that you know He's put around

certain people that can evangelize to
him or in an evangelism series At vibe

Church, and so I occasionally pray for
his salvation because I I heard a clip

From him like a couple of years ago, uh,
when he was really promoting AI, right?

And one of his main motivations
with AI is he wants to elevate human

consciousness to the highest levels.

I do believe he's a humanist
I think that's how he would

describe himself, right?

He wants to elevate human consciousness
to the highest levels It's just

a reverse polarity to the gospel.

Mm hmm, right?

It's it's basically the
age Old tower of Babel.

What can we do to build, to get to
God, but the gospel is reverse, right?

What happened that God came to us, right?

That he doesn't have to
actually strive for it.

Right.

And it's, it's an interesting thing
because God can use all of it.

Obviously God is using Trump.

Obviously God is using Elon.

Um, but I do pray for his own salvation
because that idea of humanist.

Can change if you're not rooted in eternal
truth at any time, you know what I mean?

And that's, that's just more of my,
and I don't, you know, control it.

I'm not fearful of it, but that's
just more of my curiosity of like,

wow, he's really rising in power
and I pray for his salvation that

he would do it for the glory of God.

Arun: Yeah.

I love that.

What's your

Vance: take?

Arun: Yeah, no, I actually,
it's along the same lines.

I think he really is about
pushing humanity forward.

Like he's been talking about this long
before he even joined the government.

Everything he, it feels
like, like you said.

This money all this stuff.

He's done that like he's well past
that stage and now it's about what

can I do to leave a legacy for my
name, my family, and I think it

is for that and it would be great.

Maybe praying.

I mean, if you're out
there, Christian pray for

Ps Adam: us.

I think like I definitely pray for him.

I mean, If you're at net worth of
200 billy and you like pretty much

the richest person in the world.

Yep.

You could easily make a decision.

I'm good.

Yeah, I could just be philanthropic.

I could just really enjoy life.

I only get so many years on this earth.

Why don't I just really enjoy it.

But he wants to make impact.

He wants to make change.

And I think there is it.

What a noble pursuit to look
at our government deficit.

It's great.

And the dire outlook that that is
for tanking the economy and how

many people that will affect if
the US economy, uh, is bankrupt.

To go, let me step in at my expense
and at my credibility, all those

kinds of things and save America.

I don't understand the sentiment of, you
know, people hating on Musk for doing

what no one else has had the guts to do.

For Trump to do what no
one else has had the gut.

You don't even have to be a Trump
fan, but let's think about it.

How many presidents would get in and
risk their term, their neck on this?

It's much easier just to spend
money and be loved by people, but

to be willing to be hated by people
to cut on, you know, to cut waste

spending, all that kind of stuff.

It's not a.

To be popular.

It's to save America.

Arun: Yeah.

And I feel like I would recommend if
you're out there, we talk about this

often podcasts are a great medium to hear
people talk about things in long form.

There's a podcast with Elon and Joe Rogan
that just came out recently, and I feel

like you should definitely check it out.

One part of the podcast
that he talks about is.

He's literally exposing some of
the biggest frauds right now in the

government and it's actually a risk of
his own life Yeah, and like you said

like he's already like worth so much.

He could have just got taking the
easy route I don't need to do this.

Yep, but he's everything
he's doing every step.

He's taking he's provoking more
and more people He also could

Ps Adam: have done it behind the scenes.

Arun: Yeah, it's true He could have

Ps Adam: just you know Kind of gone
in secret like the Rockefellers

like all the people in the past that
have helped or pushed government or

even manipulated government But he's
not taking a back secret position

and you know, like a puppet master.

He's out front.

He's Answering questions, he's talking
to the media, he's giving reports,

that to me is bold and brazen.

Vance: I also think that you have
to have a little personality of

mischievousness, you know, um, to be
able to even have the motivation to cope.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um,

Arun: and so one other thing I want
to talk about because we've actually

touched on this in the, in the, from
the aspect of the church, but, um, the

government, there's an executive order
signed to do a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

This is different than the digital asset
stockpile that they're going to do.

So the Bitcoin reserve is just,
um, assets that Bitcoin is.

activity and they vowed
to never sell that.

So it's just basically digital gold that
they'll keep in their reserves and then

be able to use for, um, for future items.

Then they're going to have, because they

Vance: used to sell some of it.

Yeah.

They, I think they

Arun: would get it and they
would sell it immediately.

They would just wouldn't hold on to it.

Um, and so now they're going to
hold onto it and actually just.

Hold Bitcoin in the longterm.

And so I think they estimated if they
had held all the Bitcoin that he sees,

it was like something like 17 billion.

It would have been worth 17 billion now,

Vance: but they sold

Arun: it

Vance: at like 300 million.

Exactly.

Arun: They sold it.

And it was like at a major loss at that.

So, so.

Um, this is huge and then the digital
asset stockpile just pushes us

forward in this crypto narrative and
previously on the podcast, we discussed

something you brought it up kind of
a little bit in jest, but it was what

should the church invest in crypto
now seeing this and seeing what the

government has done, has that changed?

So let me

Ps Adam: ask some question.

What are the pros and cons
of the Bitcoin reserve?

I'm guessing it creates more
stability in the Bitcoin investment.

Because there is a certain
amount that's being held by the

government that is not going to be
pumped and dumped kind of right.

You're

Arun: talking about the actual
token price for Bitcoin.

Yeah.

Yeah, this is very bullish for Bitcoin.

Now you have essentially
Bitcoin that's off the market.

Yeah, never gonna be sold.

Ps Adam: What's the negative?

That it's not available to purchase
because there's limited Bitcoin?

Arun: Uh, no, you can
always buy partial bitcoins.

It's always gonna be, yeah.

Ps Adam: Okay, so what's the pros and cons

Arun: for the Bitcoin reserve?

Um, I think the pros are you
have government Like accepting

this new form of assets.

Um, the cons are a big signal for Bitcoin.

Ps Adam: Yeah.

It's a huge signal for crypto.

Yeah.

Arun: I think the, the cons and the
most of the concerns where people

didn't want their taxpayer money.

Going towards this riskier asset,
but I think the good news is, is

they've shown that it's not going
to be any of your taxpayer money.

So they want the taxpayer

Ps Adam: money going to USAID instead.

Okay, got it.

Right.

But there's,

Arun: but there's right now
it's just seized assets.

So this isn't even taxpayer money.

This is just assets that they have.

So it's a good call.

Yeah.

So yeah.

So just curious if you guys
want to touch on, you know, does

that change your aspect or your.

Your ideas about the
church doing this as well.

Vance: I mean, I think that
personally and for church entities.

You know, there should be a portion, uh,
allocated towards Bitcoin at this point.

Um, especially if it's being
backed by the government, right?

It's another form of
treasury at this point.

Yeah, essentially.

Right.

And so again, I don't think it should
be an egregious amount, but you know,

to not have that part of your portfolio
allocation with some of the best money

managers in the world, you know, managing
some of the largest ETFs in the world

have a material, you know, exposure
into Bitcoin would probably not be.

The wisest the reality though is for
most churches as I continue to serve.

We serve 658 churches now as I continue
to get exposed to more and more churches

is That the reality is that most churches
don't even have that much reserve

Right, and so it's not really the top
of mind conversation for churches for

churches that are in that position
praise God if you're in that position

Then you're probably already exploring
it, especially with this decision.

You probably should explore
it further for sure.

Ps Adam: Yeah.

I mean, I think if we're, if
we're, you know, classifying

it as Bitcoin specifically, I
think that's a bit more stable.

If we're talking about crypto
ethos in general, I think there's

a whole nother scenario there.

Um, because it's such a wide range
of what is cryptocurrency, what

coins mean coins, you know, stable
coins, all that kind of stuff.

So I think it was, if we zeroed in
on Bitcoin, I don't think we need to.

Uh, a policy, but we could
treat it like a security.

We could treat it like a stock account.

It pretty much is.

Maybe a diversified expression.

That's if you had stable savings, right?

Um, I think most churches that Vance
is talking about don't, aren't sitting

on a lot of financial reserves.

They're putting that to work
and expanding the kingdom.

That's right.

I think there could be a fair judgment
on churches who have a large reserve.

because why are you not using it to
build kingdom, expand, grow churches,

launch missions, all that kind of stuff.

This comes down to what, how
much money should a church have?

Interesting.

Do you know what I mean?

That's the question.

How much money should a university have?

Well, what's the purpose of having money?

Is it just for security and
legacy or should it be put to

work and your trust is in God?

Right.

And so if, in my opinion, if there is
a church with a large reserve of, you

know, Bitcoin or stock or savings.

My question would be, is what's it for and
where's your faith is your faith in that?

Or is your faith in God?

Now, I'm not saying don't be wise
and not have, you know, I mean,

uh, I think COVID showed us that we
needed more savings than we had for

sustainability in a crisis situation.

So I think there's going to be
a measurement on what that looks

like, but let's use every dollar.

To advance the kingdom.

Yeah, because if we do believe
time is short on Earth, uh, we

need to maximize every time.

And if we've got dollars to
reach people, let's use it.

Arun: Yeah, I was listening to
David Sachs, who's our crypto

and eyes are for the government.

And so he was describing the two kind of
factions that they've created for this.

And it's kind of what you're going for.

There's There's riskier assets,
which exists outside of Bitcoin.

Um, but they created a separate
entity or a separate vehicle for

that, which they can rebalance.

And they've brought in the right people
that understand how to rebalance it.

Um, that'll continue to monitor
it and figure out what's the

best way to manage those assets.

And then you have Bitcoin, which in
their mind is such a stable product.

At this point, you know, you can say
what you want about the crypto markets

kind of going up and down, but like.

In within that realm, it's the one
that's been going up into the right.

You haven't been major outages,
you know, like this is the

asset that we can believe in.

Um, and so it kind of goes to that
idea of like, if you put the right

people in place, in my opinion, at a
church, you can manage these assets in

a way that can help grow your reserve.

To help you be able to do these missions
or whatever tasks that you want to do.

Yeah.

I

Ps Adam: just think it's
probably like what Van's saying.

It's probably 1 percent of churches
that are in that consideration anyway.

Like I think right now, what most
churches need to do with, they receive

Bitcoin is, uh, move it into money that
they can actually exchange for goods.

Yep.

To move the mission forward, to put
on Easter, to reach the neighborhood,

you know, right, right, right, right,

Arun: right.

Um, how's it affecting you guys?

Uh, so we at swe?

Yeah.

So at SWE, we just recently announced
the World Liberty Finance, which is.

Also a separate thing, but this is just
by, I think my understanding of it is as a

Trump family is kind of building this new
defy kind of protocol with his reserve.

Um, so they announced that they
would be adding sweet to their,

um, yeah, so that's, that was.

Like before everything kind of
crashed, that was becoming MAGA.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that was with a lot of, you know,

with a lot of no comment on that.

But, um, yeah, so it's been great.

I mean, I think it's just giving
us further validation for,

you know, what we're building,
um, as one of those kind of,

Vance: why are they choosing you?

I think you could choose
a bunch of others.

Right,

Arun: right, right.

I think it's a lot of the relationships.

We have a lot of good
partnerships, folks that were.

In the room with the people
that are running this amazing.

Um, and so invest in class.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then we have the, you know,
the kind of tech to back it up.

And but you still need
the people to showcase it.

Yeah, I think the thing that
crypto is like, Oh, it's all

the team is what he said.

It's a team behind it.

Crypto is lacking is just apps, right?

Like the thing that Really
tells a story in any kind of

space is the app itself, right?

Like you don't say, Oh, internet
technology is fantastic here.

Let me show you about, you show the apps
that are built on internet technology.

That's right.

Um, and so crypto is still
looking for that app.

We're still looking for that.

Vance: Still don't have that at sweet.

Arun: We don't have it anywhere in
crypto, really like we defy, which is

like, you know, the number one thing
that's happening is just finance,

which is the original form of what.

You know, crypto was meant to do.

And so that exists.

What's the leading app

Ps Adam: right now?

Arun: Coinbase probably, right?

Yeah.

Coinbase is like, yeah.

Polymarket is actually a good place.

It's a, it's a good use case.

Cause that's true.

DeFi.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's like, Coinbase
is a little bit CFI.

Yeah.

So like.

Polymarket is probably the best
like decentralized app that,

you know, kind of is out there.

Um, but it's

Vance: not that big.

Arun: It's not that big.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's because you have to ask
yourself how usable really is

crypto for the common person.

Vance: It's

Arun: not really that usable.

Not currently.

Um, there is with all this AI kind
of push going out now, there's

these things called AI agents.

Um, and so AI agents essentially
allow AI to take the next

step of what you want to do.

So you'll say, I want to make.

a transfer to Vance, uh, TenSuite.

It will figure out the path to get from
my wallet to whatever your wallet is.

It might not even be on suite.

It might be your bank account.

And it'll figure out
the path to get there.

And that's what AI agents are allowing
is natural language transactions.

And so that'll be really easy.

Like you'll just have an app
and you'll be like, I want to

send this money to this person.

And it'll figure out
the path to get there.

And so I think that's
where we're kind of going.

It's like that crossover
between the advancements in AI.

Um, we'll help make it easier to use.

I heard

Vance: Chris Dixon talk about
how I think crypto has a big

opportunity with AI because it.

It probably is going to be the
business model for AI, right?

Uh, because you need in an agentic kind
of model world, you need something, a

currency instead of like just SAS fees
you're paying every quarter and things

like that, it's going to be based on
usage, but you need a scalable system, a

tokenized system to be able to keep track
of the usage and who's using what, right?

Arun: Yeah, yeah, definitely.

And even just the models themselves,
like actually building the

models, how does the data get?

Use how do you reward the people
from whom data you're actually

building them like all of that.

It's all kind of like It's going to
take some time, but it's all just makes

sense that it just fits in together.

And I think that's like the world that
we're going to be living in pretty soon.

Yeah.

And so actually on that topic, there
was, um, I don't know how close you

guys are following all this like
AI updates and stuff, but China, I

think very closely, very closely.

I

Ps Adam: have my, I have
my finger on the pulse.

Really?

Arun: Are you using the
latest AI tools out there?

Yeah, I'm using Grok3.

Grok.

Nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I think Grok is just
that, your AI of choice.

Ps Adam: Oh, for sure.

It's just in the X platform.

Mm-hmm . I think it's just so easy to
uh, just kind of be in that whole suite.

It's just so, so user friendly
and, uh, I think I converted Kira.

Nice.

She was on chat GPT and, and now
she's a grok fanatic and so, yeah.

What about you?

You use several?

I use Chet.

Yeah.

Vance: I use, I use multiple.

Have you, I'm probably mo mostly using

Arun: Chet.

Have you figured out any new
apps, AI based apps that are.

Shifting how you're like productivity
has kind of gone with different areas

Vance: outside of chat GPT.

Yeah,

Arun: outside of just like a
chat bot version, any other new

apps that you guys are using?

Well, our,

Vance: our team is using, um, a lot
of different kind of AI tools stacked

together to make them more efficient.

I would say that we started the
year, then probably getting a boost

of 10 to 15 percent of efficiency.

I think they're probably up to 20 to 25
percent more efficient with some of the.

You know, tools like Devin and
co pilot and things like that.

So that's probably the most
material impact in kind of my world.

Arun: But

Vance: for me personally,
I'm just using Chatchabitty.

Arun: Yeah.

If you, if you guys, I don't use

Vance: Google anymore.

Arun: I don't know.

Never use Google search.

Yeah.

Like it's such a waste of it.

They do.

They're in trouble.

They are, but they're, they're a model.

Gemini is fantastic as well.

So, and I think they're going
to figure out how to do it.

But right now, if you go to Google
search, they'll give you an AI summary.

Vance: Yes.

Yeah.

Right.

Arun: So like they kind of are, they know
where this kind of leading to anyway.

So they.

They'll give you that, but you don't
even go down and search through

any of the links anymore, right?

Just right there.

There's your answer.

Yeah, interesting.

So, um, but if your team hasn't
yet switched to cursor, 100 percent

recommend using cursor, which is a
code editor for people that don't,

I think they are testing that out.

So we're cool.

Yeah, it's probably my favorite AI tool.

What's

Vance: your, what's your
bump in productivity?

Arun: Oh, it's huge.

I don't even know if I get

Vance: 50%.

Arun: Yeah, I would say.

Order of magnitude.

Yeah, I would say, I would say about 50%.

Wow.

Yeah.

Vance: You're 50 percent more
effective as an engineer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

With Cursor.

Arun: Yeah, there's, there's.

Vance: So Cursor's definitely
like a 10 billion plus company.

Yeah, yeah.

They have, oh

Arun: my gosh.

It's insane.

But

Vance: their revenues don't show it yet.

But I'm just saying, if it's, if
it's increasing your productivity

by 50%, that's a game changer.

Arun: It can write full sets
of full code code that you

don't even need to worry about.

Yeah.

They have an agent mode there called
composer that you can just feed

it this prompt and it'll figure
out what to write and go through

the errors and figure it out.

And so, so if that's

Ps Adam: the case, why would you go
through school to be an engineer?

You

Arun: still need to know.

What to ask.

You still need to
understand, so why wouldn't

Ps Adam: you be a prompter?

Arun: Yeah.

And there's a whole thing called
prompt engineering now, right?

Which is a idea.

So you wouldn't go

Ps Adam: through code school,
you'd go to prompt school.

Arun: Yeah.

There, so there's, there's a whole
class of now product engineers, um,

that essentially the ones that usually
just create the ideas and create the

design plans that can go now and go.

bot and say, I want to build this product.

Here are my Figma designs,
whatever it is, and you pass it

in and it'll build it for you.

Which is crazy.

Yeah.

So we're getting into a world.

You know, you think

Ps Adam: about it like when,
when, uh, you're going through,

you know, university, there's
probably this big statement.

I know they do for you
when you're in university.

Hey, we're training people for
jobs that don't even exist yet.

Yeah.

And now it's like.

It's true because there was
no such thing as prompting AI

when you were doing university.

And so wonder what people, you know,
what jobs exist that people in university

for now that is going to be redundant.

It is

Vance: interesting because software
engineers for the last, what, 10, 20 years

have had a huge competitive advantage.

Oh, they've had a great run.

In terms of like, uh, earning potential.

Yeah.

Right.

I wonder how much that degrades, right?

Um, or evens out with, uh,
product managers and designers

and things like that.

I think probably the advantage
is not in coding anymore, right?

In two, three years, it's
probably in clarity of thought.

It's how clear can you think, how
clear can you explain something?

Communication, right?

Experts at communication are going
to be, uh, AI world and understanding

Ps Adam: the AI mind.

Understanding how an AI
responds, that's that prompt.

Arun: Yeah, I'll tell you the discussions
we've had with just engineers.

I think the, the way that we see
it is the people that get affected

the most, it's junior engineers.

It's like, oh yeah, the young
engineers that are just coming up.

The ones that are still
trying to figure it out.

AI can essentially do that job.

Yeah.

Bye bye.

Yeah.

And so, but I think the senior level
engineers, the people that are kind of

up there that have been in and around
the space that are creating new things,

that's the one that you cannot replace.

Okay.

Yeah.

So I think there's system levels of like

Vance: senior engineering
is more of like an art.

Arun: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there's like almost like
a Wow, that's a big leap.

Yeah.

We're calling engineers artists.

Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.

I feel like in any space
When you get really good at

something, it's all art, right?

Like I watch an athlete, it's art, right?

Like when they get to that level,
let's, let's give you that.

Let's give you that Arun.

You're an artist.

Listen, you got to watch
me behind the computer.

It's not fun to watch.

I hear what you're saying

Vance: because I, I, um, I've
connected recently, uh, with.

The former CTO of Venmo and when
you get to that level, right,

a CTO of leading thousands of
people, you're not coding, right?

Everything is leadership.

Everything is clarity of thought.

Um, you could, but you know, where
you really make your money is really

mobilizing through leadership, right?

The team, um, by giving
direction and things like that.

And so I can see that, you know,
where you get more and more senior.

Uh, you're not spending so much
time in the grunt work anymore.

You're a creative director.

Arun: Yeah.

But there's, there's a lot coming out.

I mean, we don't have to get into it, but
there's a lot of AI agentic like updates

that are happening, but it just feels like
everybody's popping up with something.

It's so hard to keep up.

So I'm just curious
where you guys were at.

There's a lot of investments.

If you just wrap any AI model and
create some niche product, you can

probably get an investment right now.

You can probably get an investment.

For sure.

I mean,

Vance: I think it's
almost exclusively just.

Ps Adam: To AI projects

Vance: in terms of VC.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's crazy.

Well,

Ps Adam: we're going to be in Dubai for a
HypeCon right during that AI conference.

So that's going to be
happening right there.

So maybe we should just pop our head
in, see what's going on, you know,

maybe make some investments, you know.

I

Arun: know last time you
guys did a pitch competition.

Are you guys doing that again?

Ps Adam: We're not gonna do a
pitch competition at HypeCon Dubai,

but at HypeCon Silicon Valley.

Okay, cool.

Arun: All right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Um, yeah, I think that's, that's about it.

Now

Ps Adam: you're going to talk
about that, the Southwest.

Oh, how did I forget?

Okay, before we wrap this
podcast up, Before we wrap

Arun: this podcast up, we gotta
talk about Southwest Changes.

So, um, if you're in the U.

S.

and you're listening to this podcast,
you've probably flown Southwest.

One of their big claims to fame.

Ps Adam: You really?

Oh, I did it one time.

It was the worst experience of my life.

Wait, Southwest is like the best.

Oh, you're a fan boy to
get to Orange County.

Vance: It's really nice.

Yeah.

So

Arun: first off, they had a
lot of really cheap fares.

Um, you can buy anywhere in
the U S they offered two free

check back same day change.

It was credits.

All of it.

It's fantastic.

You have to hustle for
your pretty good app.

Really easy to book, right?

A lot of deals want to get away Wednesday.

If you know it, you know it.

They're changing all of that.

This year I wonder why.

Cause

Ps Adam: only two people liked
it and you were one of them.

That's crazy that you don't fly Southwest.

Bro, you don't even get an assigned seat.

You have to hustle.

You have to get into a group.

Yeah, you gotta check in early.

And then you have to kind of hustle.

There's no first class.

There's no upgrades.

There's no, there's no, uh,
faithful, you know, thank you

for flying with us 400 times.

There is!

Arun: You get

Ps Adam: A list.

Oh, A List, which is like, you
get to go on the plane first.

Wow.

I feel like a celebrity now.

Um, no, it's, it's terrible.

Arun: Yeah, really?

Ps Adam: Yes.

You have to pay for everything.

Have you heard

Arun: of Companion Pass?

Have I heard of Companion Pass?

Yeah, so Southwest offers this thing
called Companion Pass, which means you can

pick one person to fly with you for free.

Ps Adam: Right.

Arun: Huge.

Me and my wife.

One ticket, two people, come on.

Every Indian out there knows.

It's a good deal,

it's a good deal.

The companion

Arun: pass.

So companion pass is gone?

No, no, that's still going to be there.

But who wants to fly
with no free check bags?

Vance: How much is it
going to be to check bags?

Like 50 each or something?

Arun: I don't know.

I think it's the, the base fare is the
one that's taking it away from, which is

the cheapest, but it's the most on other

Ps Adam: airlines.

Status gives you free checkbacks,

Arun: right?

So I wonder if a list
continues, uh, to give you that.

We'll see.

We'll see what the, I
have to go look into that.

So

Ps Adam: you're saying they
become every other airline.

There's nothing special.

Yeah.

Essentially.

Yeah.

Arun: Southwest is becoming
every other airline.

And so this is what happens.

You just, it's been a good run for them.

We'll see.

There's a lot of, you
know, feedback for them.

That's people don't like to change.

Obviously it's, you know, one of the most
popular, Low budget airlines out there.

I wouldn't call it low budget.

It's not spirit right here value based
value based airlines Actually, the CPI

data that came out today suggests that
people aren't traveling that much anymore.

Vance: Really?

Arun: Yeah, yeah, in
the last month at least.

So, people aren't traveling that much and
that's why the inflation has gone down.

That's so

Vance: crazy because crashes

Ps Adam: or something?

Arun: I don't know, I don't know.

People just, maybe people
are concerned about where the

economy Oh, you can't, like

Ps Adam: you can't say that
because I remember at Christmas

time and Thanksgiving, it was
the highest travel day on record.

Well, yeah, but that's why

Arun: between December and
January, inflation did go up.

And then between January, that's

Ps Adam: not, that's not a,
that's not a societal statement.

People aren't traveling so much anymore.

Arun: Maybe at

Ps Adam: the beginning of this
year compared to last year.

But I would say air travel is
crazier than I've ever seen it.

I've been to the airport
so much in the last month.

I feel like every weekend
I was going to the airport.

And Kira and I were literally just saying
how crazy the lines is for, you know, TSA.

Pre check.

Oh, yeah, it's slinging standard and just
taking our shoes and you know, all that

clothes off that treatment SFO And it's
like cuz the TSA pre check line was like

way longer than the standard TSA line.

Have you

guys gotten clear yet?

Ps Adam: I guess yeah, yeah, yeah, we got
all the bells and whistles, but none of

them really seem to advance you quicker

even clear I thought clear was still the

Arun: clear was got clear Everybody's
got TSA pre and clear now.

Vance: Not everybody, the
other lines are pretty big.

Arun: Depends on where you go.

I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I

Vance: suppose crazy.

Arun: Yeah.

But yeah, I guess that South.

So what does that

Ps Adam: mean?

Are you changing?

No, no, no.

Arun: I, I have my status for this year,
but after that we'll figure it out.

Ps Adam: You're a status junkie.

Arun: Who isn't?

If you aren't trying to grind statuses
for things, what are you doing?

Come on, pick something, get loyal,
get the status and then enjoy it.

You know?

Ps Adam: So that's,
yeah, that's surprising.

Then since you're in the
Bay area, you're not.

A united status person.

Arun: United is for work, travel.

Okay.

So United is for work Travel.

Southwest Personal, because
of the companion pass.

Vance: I can't wait till Starlink
gets, uh, in all the United flights

because United it's happening.

Typically had the worst wifi.

I got lucky on this past one.

I just got back from
New Orleans, but yeah.

Um, typically it's like the worst.

Mm-hmm . But starlink is rolling out.

Starlink is coming.

I feel like if you're gonna pick.

How can you hate Elon?

Yeah, come on guys.

What has he done for us?

Come on.

Arun: He's improving our lives.

I'm enhanced.

Yeah.

Anything you guys want to chat about
before we get off about HypeCon Dubai?

Ps Adam: Yeah, HypeCon
Dubai happening in April.

We've got, um, a really good
lineup that we're going to announce

very soon of some great speakers.

Uh, I'll be there.

Vance will be there.

And, um, it's just going to be our first,
like, Hype event really in the middle

East and in such an innovative place.

I think the conference itself is going
to be fun But just the the hanks We're

really planning on having a bunch of
dinners with people and opening up just

some connections go to Dubai mall One
of the greatest malls in the planet

and just having some fun in I would
say just an entrepreneurial epicenter

I think if you go to Dubai just your
eyes open to potential think bigger.

So I think just being in the
environment I would Highly encourage

anybody to make it an investment.

It is expensive.

It's a long way away Flights aren't
Southwest flights They don't fly there,

but you know, there there are some great
Opportunities just to get there once you

I think it's expensive to get there, but
it's pretty cheap on the ground Yeah,

Arun: you know who that's by there United.

Fantastic.

Well, it's been a great episode.

I'm excited to hear what
everybody has to say.

If you do, we're going to be posting
a lot of these clips on socials.

Respond.

Give us some feedback.

How can they follow the social?

What's the social?

Hype Network is our social.

Definitely give it a follow.

You can just respond.

Just, please, just comment.

Hey, that's cool.

This sucks.

This is great.

This is, you know, whatever it is.

Save this sucks.

Maybe don't say that.

Freedom of speech.

Whatever you want to say.

Okay.

If it gets too crazy, we
might have to take it down.

Okay.

So maybe not too much freedom of speech.

Okay.

Ps Adam: So let's, let's do this.

So if they, if they interact on social,
maybe we'll hit a topic on the pod.

Can we do some shout outs to people?

Maybe some merch drops.

Oh, that could be fun.

Arun: Oh.

Hype merch is great.

Yeah, you definitely want the hype.

Yeah.

Ps Adam: That little tech bro vest.

Yeah.

You want, you want

Arun: the hype merch.

All right, cool.

We'll do it.

We'll do whatever it is.

We'll do it.

We just want some interaction.

We like people.

We're all about

Ps Adam: humanity.

Like

Arun: Elon.

Shout out Elon.

All right.

Cheers guys.