LIFTS Episode 113 - From HYROX to Longevity Clinics: The Future of Fitness is Human | Connected Health & Fitness Summit

20:06Matthew Januszek:Sure. So I just think that our founder, Dr. Kuo, is in the business of patient outcomes. That's what it comes down to. So Extension Health would not be the success it is today that the company he's built if patients didn't come in and improve from where they were starting, where they started, and when they're at now. I think about I've been on my own health journey with Dr. Kuo and I've lost 50 pounds and sort of reduced my biometric age and sort of dropped body fat, et cetera, grew some hair. I always had the hair. And if I didn't see that growth, if I didn't see improvement, I would not tell anyone about it, et cetera.

20:55Matthew Januszek:and founders of longevity clinics are in the business of patient outcomes. And that's different to how influencers, the business of influencers, which as you just said, they're incentivized by brands to push those brands. Now, they need to believe in those brands. But they don't control what those brands end up doing every day and how they do it and the decisions that they make, the ingredients that they choose to use, et cetera. They don't control those decisions. And so, yeah, I just think they're fundamentally different businesses.

21:28Mohammed Iqbal:But I think one good example is HeroMenn with AG1, right? You and I have talked to AG1 now for a couple of years. In fact, you got me to switch to Gainful Greens, which I'm still using today, by the way. But at the same time, though, a lot of what Essential Health does is inaccessible. You've got memberships that start at 20 ,000 for a reboot, all up to 250 ,000, maybe even beyond. And you've got a la carte services as well. And that's where it is today. It doesn't mean that's where it's going to be forever. And certainly some of the costs of doing the services that you provide are coming down.

22:04Mohammed Iqbal:Insurance doesn't cover these things, right, which also might change the coming years. Where do you see this going? You and I have kind of talked about the idea of expanding the TAM, reaching more people. Obviously, there are people who could afford it, who just don't have the awareness to come in and do it anyways. But then how do you think that some of the things that you're doing could apply to more people?

22:25Matthew Januszek:Sure. The majority, almost all of our patients come in with a problem. The problem is just different depending on who you are. And you can come in because you're not sleeping well or you're lacking energy or your libido is low or you've put on weight or you want to build muscle, etc. etc. And a lot of people come in because they've tried alternate solutions and they haven't worked for them, right? Or they're being told, you're fine. Like, well, I'm not fine. I don't have energy. I can't wake up and work out. I am not fine. So they're coming to us with a problem that needs to be solved. And they may have done tests online, they may have done sort of one of these AI diagnostics, and they don't know what to do with this data.

23:11Matthew Januszek:And so they've tried and they fail. Now, so the problem might be, if you're an extremely wealthy hedge fund owner, maybe your problem is, I have built my career and my villains off the back of my brain. And all of a sudden, I'm starting to feel brain fog. Or you're a father who you're a new father, and all of a sudden, you've started to forget things, right? So you come in with a problem, typically, and we help you solve those problems. Now, by the way, not everyone is getting sort of the$250 ,000

23:41Mohammed Iqbal:premium service which is essentially which i think you've capped at 25 right it's capped yeah it's

23:46Matthew Januszek:capped and even to sort of you know have a look at the different people who who are um you know using or who have access to this membership they've got they're from different professions they're different ages and different personas and um and they have a different reason why they are on this you know some just want it handled by an expert team of doctors right like some want to be at the advanced edge of longevity. So no matter what is coming out from whatever country, they know that Extension Health is going to get access to it first, right? And so they just want to know that no matter what, it's physician-led and if it is and it's science-backed and credible, Extension Health will be sort of doing it.

24:31Matthew Januszek:And that's the piece of line that they want. Don't forget, though, that we've just got people who come in because they want to lose weight. And that's what they need. and we have something for them. You know, we have the diagnostics and then we have this sort of advanced peptide therapy, etc. So what we're finding is that longevity and the concept of longevity and the medication and the therapies, it's left the uber rich. It's left the uber rich. And it's some people just, you know, they're working in a VC or they're working in marketing and whatever they're doing, they're looking at their friend who's a mum and just like, you don't look as tired as I do.

25:07Matthew Januszek:yeah how don't you or they're looking at their their their mate after one guy's got a dad board the other guy doesn't it's like how do you look like this why do you look why do you have so much energy how are you like what are you doing differently it's like and there are some people who just need that help and they need the guidance and obviously right now there's you know there's it's a gray area and there's people who are buying things online from untrusted untrusted sources and and that's scary that that's it's scary you know when when people are doing that and you know we're very different to that so where do you see the areas of most interest because it's it's certain even though you say it's not for the ultra wealthy paying 25 grand is is out of most people's reach for in a lot of cases um but there's clearly some fundamental as we talk about it a lot in the podcast which is getting good sleep and getting good decent nutrition and having a decent workout There's some of the basics, but beyond getting those basics in place, what do you see is the next most exciting frontier that you're seeing for the ultra wealthy that could really make a major shift for everybody?

26:18Matthew Januszek:And just to give you a few ideas of what I'm thinking about, like there's a number of different treatments from a good analysis and AI being able to analyze a lot of data and provide personalization. We've mentioned peptides here. What should we be looking at that you're seeing could be real breakthrough technology that seems to have credibility to it and may at some point be more relevant to the mass market, not just the ultra wealthy? yeah look Dr. Kuo's he's the go-to in the US for FDA clinical trials etc and a lot of these people from around the world you know partner with Dr. Kuo to to test we're really interested in brain health and sort of the huge advancements in in that and and sort of you know reversing reversing the age of your brain essentially you know as you start to get older etc you start to lose that and that's sort of what the uber sort of you know that end are doing but then there are sort of biomarker tests that you can do for you know early onset alzheimer's etc right so for the masses and then you know there the therapies and treatments for sort of reversing the aging of your brain is is at one end but knowing whether or not you're you've got some biomarkers which suggest that you're more likely or less likely to get alzheimer's you can start to make tweaks to how you live and the things that you eat etc right so i think that's an example of how an extension help we see all of those you know that entire spectrum right from the people who want to reverse the age of their brain right through to people who can just make modifications to what they're eating and how they're sleeping and etc you know to reduce the likelihood or put off you know the number of years that that it's going to take before you sort of potentially you know have one of these conditions so um i think that's really interesting for us you're going to hear a lot more about it and You should speak to Dr.

28:16Matthew Januszek:Kuo. I'm not a doctor. Who is Dr. Kuo? Just for people who are listening. Who's Dr. Kuo and why should we be taking notice? He's the founder of Extension Health and he's a regenerative medicine expert. He's been doing this for 20 years. He has the trust of A++ list celebrities, CEOs of fan companies, heads of state, owners of NFL clubs, royals. I mean, when I'm in there, I don't know whether I should be getting autographs. and he's built this trust because again, outcomes. And so he is the founder and I've joined him as co-CEO to help build the business. And really, again, to allow him to concentrate on the medicine, on the patients, on the outcomes.

28:59Matthew Januszek:And that's the difference between influencers who are talking about longevity and people who are living and breathing it every day.

29:09Mohammed Iqbal:Well, Dean, thank you so much for coming on. We're excited to have Dr. Kwon. I'm going to see you in Stanford.

29:13Matthew Januszek:in a couple of days, which I'm excited about as well. Yeah, some great people there. I can't wait to hear about it. Thanks, gents. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks very much. Thank you.

29:21Mohammed Iqbal:Thanks, Dean.

29:21Matthew Januszek:Thank you.

29:22Mohammed Iqbal:Well, Julie, I've been trying to get you on Lyfts for a very long time. I've known you. We're just talking about this three, four years, I think. It's been a while. We've worked together. You've built an incredible brand at P-Volve. We haven't spoken enough about P-Volve on this podcast. So I think to start, why don't you explain to the audience what P-Valve is.

29:43Dean Kelly:Yeah, P-Valve is basically like a low-impact functional movement-based workout, and it involves resistance-based equipment. Ours happens to be proprietary and patented, but it's the combination of the functional movement and the resistance-based equipment that gives you these tremendous results. I think that the other thing that's really important about what it is that we're building is the model. So we've got a global digital subscription, And then we also have patented pieces of proprietary resistance equipment that always go hand in hand. They're never really sold separately. And then we also have owned and operated studios, three of them.

30:20Dean Kelly:And we have a franchise model. So we've got about 40 franchise locations open and another 40 or so in development right now. So that's the modality. There's a lot going on. You have digital.

30:32Mohammed Iqbal:You've got your own own, which I think is always a good thing. I always question franchisors that don't own their own studios because that's such a good testament for learning things.

30:40Dean Kelly:Agreed.

30:40Mohammed Iqbal:And then you're growing insanely with the franchisees.

30:46Dean Kelly:Yeah.

30:47Mohammed Iqbal:Well, congratulations.

30:48Dean Kelly:Thank you.

30:49Matthew Januszek:Talk a bit about the brand. Like we've had a relationship for a number of years. I've been familiar with what you've done with Mo previously and seen some of the great things that you've done on the consumer side. Talk a little bit about that B2C part of your business and how you built that. And what are some of the things that you've done to create almost like an independent business on its own that's selling products to the consumers?

31:15Dean Kelly:Yeah, I mean, that's really where we originated. We originated more on the digital side and supply chain globally. You know, a lot of that growth is really about PR, about our results. you know, the things that we are proving out that I think a consumer needs. But I'm going to be honest with you. It was not easy. I think those first, I would say like five to six years, because I think when you're trying to sell something different, no matter how good it is, it is very difficult. And the modality itself is just new to market. And so like, you know, we always want to compare it to something she's already doing and loves.

31:55Dean Kelly:But, you know, it's just It's like over the years, we've just gotten smarter and smarter about the messaging. We spend a lot in meta. We have, you know, certainly that's part of the reason that we started franchising is because we really wanted to build that brand awareness. We wanted to have these billboards on major DMA and really create that in real life experience. But it's been a long time. We started the company in 2017. What we're lucky about is that the method really works. And we did attract Jennifer Aniston in 2023. Mo, that's when you started to work with us. She was a massive fan. And she's actually really helped us to break through the clutter, add credibility to what it is that we say we can do.

32:40Dean Kelly:She's an incredible spokesperson. And honestly, our business has gone through the roof since then. I would argue it's like timed perfectly with like the relevancy of longevity, of sustainable movement, of some of our clinical studies kind of coming to maturity. But certainly I am so eternally grateful for her being our biggest fan. So that's a huge way of how we built the D2C business.

33:07Mohammed Iqbal:Well, I think there's so many things that you've done right. And also timing is everything.

33:11Dean Kelly:Yeah.

33:11Mohammed Iqbal:Pilates as a modality has helped, I think, help evolve. Yeah. Because whether or not, I'd love to understand, do you group yourself within Pilates or not or differently? And then I would say the other big trend has been aesthetics and the focus on having a highly aesthetic setting. And from the beginning, P-Ball was very aesthetic focused. So people want to wear things that are aesthetically pleasing, have an environment that is aesthetically pleasing. And that matters because it sets them in a certain mindset to go do the hard work and buy the P-Ball of his heart. Have you done PeeVol? No. Oh, gosh.

33:47Mohammed Iqbal:I've done a lot of PeeVol.

33:48Matthew Januszek:I've been to the studios a few times, but I haven't managed to do it.

33:52Mohammed Iqbal:I've done several PeeVol workouts. I'm sure you've done everything. It is not easy. No, it's not. It's not easy. I know she is a persona at PeeVol, but I would say for guys, you could also go. And you've got to get on a reformer. We've got to get you on a reformer as well. He hasn't been on a reformer.

34:08Dean Kelly:We'd love to have you in the studio anytime.

34:10Matthew Januszek:I went to the one in. What was it? Was it in?

34:13Dean Kelly:I met you in the West Hollywood one. West Hollywood one.

34:15Matthew Januszek:Yeah. Beautiful location. Yeah.

34:16Dean Kelly:That's a beautiful location. That's our owned and operated.

34:18Mohammed Iqbal:So just timing between Pilates, you've got the aesthetics, you've got digital post pandemic and then Jennifer Aniston. How do you, you know, is it, is part of it timing that has led to the excitement and growth of P-Volv and or is it because of Pilates or or something else?

34:35Dean Kelly:Yeah. I mean, I would say it's more about timing. I think that, you know, I think that we categorize ourselves in this like movement longevity space. We've always been about longevity. That's where we've invested. I shouldn't even say how much money, a lot of money in clinical research just around how we can help you move better longer. And I think that we should have always cared. But I think that the consumer cares more post pandemic than ever before. You know, the longevity business is just like exploding. And I think that we've got the sort of like the receipts with the clinical studies to really like play in that space.

35:15Dean Kelly:And that's just growing in relevancy. So that's number one, I think, you know, in and of itself. And I'm excited about that because that trend's not going away. And we're really going to double down in that space. Pilates, we don't categorize ourselves in the Pilates like discipline, but we certainly want to attach ourselves to Pilates because our woman loves Pilates too. We don't want her to stop Pilates. We just want her to understand the difference of what P-Balb does. We do a lot of stability and mobility in addition to strength. So, you know, we have mad respect for Pilates and I do think it's helping us, Mo, like a lot.

35:55Dean Kelly:But we don't categorize ourselves as Pilates. We're pretty, we're pretty careful about that. I will tell you, we've played in the space of like Pilates evolved and you know, like how we can take the Pilates, your Pilates practice to the next level. But I think it's just like, honestly, it's timing. I think in some ways we had a crystal ball, you know, all the mistakes we made. We made so many mistakes and I'm so lucky we were able to make those mistakes and learn from them. But the couple of things that we did do just staying very true to this like longevity, sustainability, clinical efficacy, doctors on our board, differentiation, and that mode of like defense that we had around us with like patented pieces of equipment.

36:41Dean Kelly:You know equipment so well. So, I mean, it's like, yeah, I can pat myself on the back now, but you're also not seeing all of the mistakes that we made too along the way. And so we're just like really, I feel really blessed to be here, you know.

36:56Mohammed Iqbal:And we should link those research papers on this podcast.

36:59Dean Kelly:Oh, for sure.

37:01Matthew Januszek:Just being in some of those early conversations, even before you were involved with Jennifer Aniston, you had built a great platform. And in some ways, I remember hearing you explain the category that you're going after. And without necessarily saying Pilates, what you recognized is the movement that created Pilates. And that was, I guess, one modality within that space. And I think you're another type of modality within that space. but you definitely identified this female first and I won't use your terminology because I won't do a great job but you definitely recognize some of those essential components that we're creating this movement that that is where we are today all of those years later.

37:43Matthew Januszek:I'm just interesting at the time you had some of your own facilities and then you decided to go into franchising. Tell us a little bit about that journey into franchising. What worked, what didn't work, and where you are now in that whole journey?

37:59Dean Kelly:Rachel, the founder, Rachel Katzman, and I, we knew that we wanted to franchise. We knew that we needed to open up a couple of our own to have sort of that beta test ground, you know, like that we could be doing stuff, that we could put our experience and like what we were going through, you know, and we could talk about that to the franchise. But we always wanted to franchise. And here's why is because we were women entrepreneurs that started this. We had like skin in the game. We were like just like fighting like bloody hell to like just like push this company forward. And we believe in that model that entrepreneurs in these individual units will be our best.

38:37Dean Kelly:I don't know the best secret weapon you could have, you know, and so like We always wanted to do that. And it was also able to scale much quicker while we were really focused on getting acceptance, brand awareness around the modality, which was a lot of work. So that is why we did it. There's a lot that you learn in franchising. And we just hired a new COO. And I'm just beaming from ear to ear because franchising is a lot of work. It's not for the faint at heart. It's real emotional. Like it, it, it truly is like you are, there's these people that are changing their lives that are investing in you.

39:16Dean Kelly:I mean, I'll, I'll even get like emotional about it. Like when they're talking to you, they're these people that really believe in you and some owners are going to be great. And some owners are not. And you don't know that when you're starting off, like you're, you know, you're awarding these amazingly passionate people that are so passionate about your method, like these, these like franchise units and they become their and some people are great at it and like want to put in the work and some people just want to build it and you know hope that people will come so I think we're learning like honestly even now we've probably made some some mistakes on how to scale properly in a franchise versus you know just our three owned and operated but you know keep our ears open, we're very, very like, if there's one thing that our franchise owners never say about us is that we're not supportive.

40:08Dean Kelly:Like I'm getting on the phone with them on a regular, I just got on the phone with one today. So I think every day we're kind of figuring out what we're doing not so well and what we're doing really well. And I hope, you know, I hope a year from now, like I'll come back on this podcast, you know, and I'll just be like, wow, we really accelerated the profitability of these owners. And that's what I care about the most because they've put their life savings sometimes into this and it's serious.

40:39Mohammed Iqbal:It's also trust. They also count on you for things that you have to deliver on as well. So speak about as a franchisor to a franchisee, what are things you believe that you're accountable for? Things that come top of mind for me, it's building awareness, obviously the method, the equipment, maybe other sources of revenue, like a supplement that I just saw, which has been released. What do you think that you should be delivering to them from helping them get people in the door? And then how do you help them keep people there?

41:11Dean Kelly:Yeah. So, I mean, there's a lot of things that we have to do as the franchisor. I think you need to have a playbook that actually works, you know, and sometimes when you're at 12 units and then you're going to 30 units, you don't necessarily have all of the answers. So like, we've got to know how to train them. We've got to know how to guide them in digital marketing and make sure that they know how to bring in leads, have to guide them and how to go out in the community, because that's like the most powerful thing that you could possibly do. And, and educate people on this, on this new modality, this, this, this new business that's opening up.

41:44Dean Kelly:So like, we have a lot of responsibility. At the same time, the franchisees have a lot of responsibility. And that is something that I have learned when people come in for awarding events. Like, let's say you're really interested in opening a franchise. One of the first things that I say is I'm like, do not do this if you are not ready for hard work. Like, it's not you're not. I'm trying to think of something that's not hard work, but like franchising is hard work. And so it's not like you are just all of a sudden leaving corporate America and you're hiring a couple of people and leaving your business to make millions.

42:16Dean Kelly:of dollars, you have to work your business. And so I think that like, it's, it's, it's a partnership. Like some of my franchisees will be like, you know what, this is client management. I'm like, it's no, it's not. It's partnership management. We are in this together and we both have to do our part. Um, so I think that's like, ultimately I feel a lot of responsibility, you know, and, and there are, what's interesting about franchising is, is that they're individual people, they're individual owners. Like I work with my investor all the time. I know exactly what to expect. I know exactly how to deliver him information.

42:48Dean Kelly:I know where probably some of his blind spots are. With owners, you could have somebody that's like so savvy in marketing, so you don't have to worry about marketing with them, but they are not so great with ops or they're not great leaders. And so their team is turning over. And so it's just like, it's a lot of different types of relationship management.

43:13Matthew Januszek:How do you find the sophistication of franchising in the fitness industry compared to others, because clearly franchises have been around for a long time. Some people have done it really, really well, particularly if you look at some of the food services industries. Do you see, have you set your own expectations in terms of what P-Volv are looking to deliver for their franchisees and setting the bar slightly different? Do you have any appreciation of what other people may be doing in the space? Just curious to know what it looks like within the fitness industry from your perspective.

43:42Dean Kelly:Yeah. I mean, so P-Volv is different, like, and this is a part of the interview process for me to find a new COO. Because we have an omni-channel business, there's like, there's like a cash generating side of our business. We're not looking just like award in order to like pay the salary of our team. And a lot of franchise businesses in early stage are, and I totally respect that. You know, it's like, you've got to award very fast because you've got to pay the bills in order to have the infrastructure run. We have like a little bit of a different infrastructure. We've got like a really successful D to C side of our business.

44:13Dean Kelly:And so like, I want to go a little bit slower. I want to think about things a little bit different. Um, as far as like how fitness franchising is different than, you know, maybe food services. Um, there's, there, there's a lot of franchise or concepts, you know, that I madly respect. Um, but I take bits and pieces of those things. Um, because I think you're dealing with a really like personalized experience when you're dealing with fitness. You guys know that really well. I mean, we're changing people's lives. I don't think that when you're going in for a subway sandwich, you know, it's just like, it's the same thing.

44:51Matthew Januszek:You're changing people's bodies in a very different way, I guess, you know.

44:54Dean Kelly:Totally, totally. So, I mean, I don't know if that answers it, but like, you know, I would tell you that like I would say for our franchisees, we've awarded 82 locations. I would say that 99 % of them are getting into this because they want to do something that is positive in their community's life. And they're wildly passionate about P-Bolve. And so there's that. And I think that's like a superpower, period.

45:26Mohammed Iqbal:Well, Julie, thank you so much for finally coming on. Yeah. We'll have to get you back on for more of an extended episode. I will. But looking forward to this conference and seeing more of you.

45:35Dean Kelly:Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

45:36Mohammed Iqbal:Rachel Nemeth, you're the co-founder of Opus. And this is the first time we're actually meeting, which is different because usually when we have guests on, even at an event like Connected, either Matthew or I have had a relationship or work with them or just know of them. But you're a new kind of company entering the space. Why don't you tell the audience a bit about Opus and what you're about?

46:00Dean Kelly:Yeah. So the one sentence of what Opus is, is we're a training OS or a training operating system that's designed for businesses with a large frontline workforce, right? Just like fitness. The problem we're solving across multiple industries is that there are 110 million Americans who aren't sitting in front of a desk all day. and they have second jobs and kids and commutes. And at the same time, there's about 2 ,100 learning systems that are built for desk workers and not them. So I actually got my backgrounds in restaurants. And so I lived and breathed this problem for 15 years and basically quit my job.

46:44Dean Kelly:I was working for the best restaurateur in the world, Danny Meyer, and left in order to start this business to solve this problem.

46:51Matthew Januszek:So what have you found is, so it makes sense. A lot of people nowadays, even myself, you're on laptops or predominantly on phones. So I get that as a concept. When you looked into this problem, did you find that it was generational? I know when I speak to my dad, whenever he does work, he has to go and sit behind his laptop in front of his computer to do it. And then my kids now, they don't even use things like text. You have to communicate through things like Snapchat. So when looking at this problem that you're solving, have you found that there's different needs of different demographics? Or have you found that this is pretty universal in terms of what you need to solve some of those problems for frontline workers?

47:33Dean Kelly:The reality is that about 98 percent of Americans are using a phone day-to-day. Now, their tech savviness might change depending on generation, but the one common thread all of those generations have is that their attention span is shrinking. On average, you remember only about three pieces of information for every 90 minutes of learning. And that doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60 years old. And so that's really the problem that we're solving at the most tactical level, which is how do I engage your team with the things that matter in your business, get them to learn it, and get them to apply it as quickly as possible.

48:08Dean Kelly:So we do see that the style of learning changes. So Opus is very accessible for that reason. We translate all of your training into 130 languages automatically. You can listen to learn. You can watch to learn. You can read to learn. You can chat in with our AI bot so you can ask questions. so it can kind of accommodate any style of human, depending on what their needs are.

48:32Mohammed Iqbal:So as you think about fitness as an industry, what are some things that you think Opus could help solve? What are some problems that you think the industry has, and how can Opus help solve that?

48:42Dean Kelly:You know what I hear? The first principle in fitness is how do you get members, and how do you keep members? Yes. Yeah. And so I think that's very relatable to the other industries that we work with. We're all in the service industry. We're all trying to bring a human element and kind of maintain that as we scale. So think about that particular issue and think about how every day in, let's say, across a hundred unit brand, you have no control over how your team is talking about memberships. You have no control about how they're engaging with your members on a daily basis, how they respond if a member gets angry.

49:26Dean Kelly:And so with Opus, you can actually get more control and consistency by delivering that training. But the key difference here, and you had asked earlier before we got on, you said it was Opus and LMS. Opus is actually more than an LMS because we're actually able to pull in that membership data, analyze it and push back to the owners and the training leaders some trends that we're seeing against your guest feedback in order to put that sort of just-in-time issue in front of your team. So the truth is, is like maybe memberships isn't the issue that day. Maybe it's that you have a lot of angry members because it was a snowstorm and, you know, they couldn't get to the gym easily.

50:09Dean Kelly:And so you need to be nice. And so it's really about responding to the needs of the business while keeping that through line of what is the higher order need of just making money and saving money.

50:21Matthew Januszek:How do you find that when you've put this together, I guess there's like workflows and systems that allow you to deliver different pieces of information or algorithms, whatever, however you work. But one of the things I've found is, so if you compare it to something like Instagram. There's a way of how it learns your feed and what content it provides you. But then also there's a certain amount of skill or art in terms of how to deliver that piece of content. So my kids, they seem to learn so much information by using TikTok because it's really quick videos, short, it presents in a particular way.

50:57Matthew Januszek:So they learn a lot from the style of the way the content's delivered. How are you finding that, how are you addressing those two different parts of it. One is the system itself and how that presents information. And then two, the content that's created to explain a message within that system.

51:16Dean Kelly:Did you go to our website before this?

51:17Matthew Januszek:I haven't, no. I'm just comparing it to my...

51:20Dean Kelly:No, because a lot of what you're describing is a lot of how we think about solving this problem, which is that you have to meet people where they are. And the reality is, is that the everyday American worker is looking at their phone all day. They're scrolling through TikTok. And the truth is, is that most people are self-educating. So if you go into any location today, no matter what size of your brand, your team is trying to learn in the moment based on what's happening. YouTube is still the number one social media platform because of that. And so the way that we can actually take that content and turn it into something that's digestible is through AI.

52:01Dean Kelly:We're an AI native platform. So imagine that you have an SOP or policy or what have you, or even just a video. We can ingest that, turn it into a TikTok style learning experience for your team that basically releases that content in the form of a module. Think of that as like a campaign. So instead of saying, okay, watch this 90-minute video, we can say, listen, we know you're not going to remember that 90-minute video. So why don't you watch this over the course of three shifts? And then we're going to assess you on it. And then the real magic of Opus is that we all use these systems in school.

52:42Dean Kelly:They're all kind of collecting dust. And the reason why we didn't like them in school is because they didn't actually help you apply that knowledge practically. And that's really the difference with deskless workers. So with Opus, we have a skill validation feature. So if I'm teaching a personal trainer or whoever, I can actually use the system to coach that personal trainer on how they're teaching somebody, grade them, and that gets ingested back into the system as well. That's interesting. It's about the whole cycle of learning, right?

53:12Mohammed Iqbal:So do you integrate with other platforms? For example, at ABC, who I'm with, has a system called TrainerEyes for personal trainers. and they can chat and message with their clients, then could he ingest that information into Opus?

53:27Dean Kelly:Theoretically, yes. Yeah, and you bring up a good point because we're not in the business of training the client, right? We're in the business of training the trainer, but it could be really interesting data. But how could a trainer be better?

53:36Mohammed Iqbal:Correct.

53:37Dean Kelly:And one of the core use cases that's often forgotten by employers is train the trainer, whatever kind of trainer that may be. And so that sort of concept of the 360 loop in learning, we call it PPP, present, practice, produce. It's really simple, but it's very hard to replicate. And what it means is that every day, all of these businesses are hoping and praying that their managers and their trainers are doing the right thing, and either checking off the paper list or just saying that they did what they did. But what you're actually trying to find is who's doing it best and how can you replicate what they're doing.

54:16Dean Kelly:So it's a great way to track it.

54:17Matthew Januszek:Have you been able to track actual results based on education by using this system compared to conventional learning? And I'm guessing that it's better, but what kind of improvements can you get from teaching people to do it this way in terms of the retention and then the application of that knowledge compared to other things?

54:38Dean Kelly:Yeah. The way we think about it is really in terms of business outcomes. There's learning retention, but that's a lagging indicator of the business outcome. And so a couple of metrics that we look at are depends on what the business cares about. But for one example is we can actually show that we can reduce new hire ramp time by 25%. It's really expensive when you're bringing on franchisees and they're looking for ways to increase their margin. We can show that we can increase guest feedback scores. Sometimes all that matters for people is that their new venue openings or their new brand openings are just clean and consistent.

55:16Dean Kelly:So we can actually measure brand consistency as well, and the likelihood that it might be dipping. So if those things are moving, we know that the knowledge retention is there. If they're dipping, we have the analytics to show where the drop-off is.

55:31Mohammed Iqbal:Well, thanks so much for coming on. It's been good to meet you. Thanks for having me.

55:35Dean Kelly:Yeah, really excited to be here.