Wilderado

The band Wilderado is made up, as their About Us would suggest on their website: “Four Dudes.” Those four dudes are Maxim Helmerich (vocals, guitar), Tyler Wimpee (guitar, vocals), Colton Dearing (percussion, keys, vocals) and Justin Kila (drums). While touring with Mt. Joy, I was lucky enough to catch them while they were in Louisville for a few beers and a quick podcast.

After a few beers, we delved into these questions to truly understand what makes a band:

• How did you meet?
• When did you start playing music?
• How do you write new songs?
• What’s a day in the life of a touring band?
• How do you stay healthy on the road?
• How will you know you’ve made it as a band?
• How do you avoid burnout?
• What advice do you have for aspiring bands?
• What’s the next big thing for the band?

SPOILER ALERT: their biggest piece of advice: don’t give up. Words for life. John and I tell ourselves that every day.

Last call questions:

• What’s the best thing you’ve spent money on the last six months?
  • Tyler: 2010 Jeep Wrangler
  • Colton: 1964 Hofner Red Guitar
  • Max: Plane tickets to see my wife
• What’s the best long-form piece of information you’ve digested?
  • Colton: The First of the Dark Tower Series (Gunslinger)
  • Max: Stephen King’s On Writing or Alan Watt’s The Wisdom of Insecurity
  • Tyler: Harry Potter
• What advice would your 60 year old self give you today?
  • Max: stop worrying about the future
  • Tyler: don’t try to invest in too many things
  • Colton: don’t wear such tight pants…………
• What’s your favorite drink?
  • Colton: BEER
  • Tyler: BEER (or Negronis)
  • Max: Casa Dragones

S/O to Sam Adams and MB Roland for providing some great drinks for the episode!

Have any topics you want covered or amazing people you’d like for us to interview? Let us know! You can email us at info@drunkenmoney.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Please be sure to subscribe to our weekly mailing list at www.drunkenmoney.com.

The Why

For a long time, I’ve always only had ONE idea of what would cause the recession. It’s gone from housing, to apartments, to pensions, and back again, but now I have a LOT of predictions. That’s right: we’re in what has now come to be referred to as the Everything Bubble. Everything is a bubble right now. What’s going to pop first? Well… I’m torn… So here are my five guesses on what I think will cause the next recession!

Let me give a little background why I wrote this article. I was a Finance major, and I’ve always been obsessed with the last recession, what led us there, etc. What led us there, the aftermath, and of course, the information it gave us to hopefully predict the next one. I’ve read article after article about the recession, and I feel like there’s always more to learn.

My favorite articles to read are the ones that everyone and his or her mother has seen that says, “This guy predicted the last recession, and here’s what he has to say now.” Those blogs are incredibly misleading because the person (or economist or blogger) that usually predicted the recession predicts a recession every year. That was just the ONE year they were right. They’re permabears (aka someone who always thinks the world is ending). Keep in mind, I’m not that kind of person. If you’ve ever met me, I’m eternally optimistic and incredibly enthusiastic, BUT I do love thinking about the next recession.

So what’s one of my favorite hobbies? Yep, that’s right: trying to predict the next recession. I’m obsessed with it. I love reading finance articles, understand the Fed, and trying to make sense of the current economy and trying to catch where it will go wrong.

For a long time, I’ve always only had ONE idea of what would cause the recession. It’s gone from housing, to apartments, to pensions, and back again, but now I have a LOT of predictions. That’s right; we’re in what has now come to be referred to as the Everything Bubble. Everything is a bubble right now. What’s going to pop first? Well… I’m torn… So here are my five guesses on what I think will cause the next recession!

Housing Crisis 2.0

So first and foremost, I have to start off with the housing crisis. If 2007 and 2008 taught us anything, it’s that you CAN go wrong investing in real estate. Everyone was doing it, and then the music stopped, and it all came crashing down. There are a lot of parallels you can draw in today’s world back to the 2006-2007 world. For example, how many of your friends or family have considered getting into real estate–INVESTMENT real estate? How many times have you heard about prices in your neighborhood or surrounding area rise too fast?

And here’s the other issue. Rates are rising. While you used to be able to get a mortgage in the 3% range, that rate is steadily increasing while the Fed is raising rates. If millennials weren’t able to buy homes at THOSE low rates, then how will they be able to buy them when they’re even higher. And if millennials, and the next generation don’t start considering getting a mortgage, we could see the housing market all the sudden collapse.

But that’s all anecdotal evidence. Let’s look at the facts.

First, there’s housing prices in America. No one can argue that they’ve gone up, but look how closely they are to the last recession:

Don’t believe me, let’s take a look at the market value of all homes in this fun, colorful, and albeit frightening gif:  

What does it all mean? Housing Bubble 2.0.

But it’s not enough to say there’s a bubble JUST because we’re at the same spot we were last time. There’s only a real problem if there’s a pullback and the bubble “pops.” I think there a few factors that could cause a pop in the next few years:

• Rates are rising: if rates are higher, then mortgage payments are higher. If someone can’t afford a mortgage payment, then they certainly can’t afford a higher mortgage payment thanks to rising rates. You don’t buy a house–you buy a payment. Higher rates mean higher payments. Less people buy houses, more supply on the market, prices decrease from bubble levels, underwater mortgages, etc etc etc RECESSION
• Millennials aren’t buying homes: this could go with the above one, but looking specifically at my generation, millennials aren’t buying homes. Now there’s a litany of reasons–lower wages, student debt, not wanting to make a commitment, and all that. But this is a HUGE issue. Also, more millennials are LOVING the apartment boom right now (see below). Millennials can live in luxury (much like some of them lived in the dorms at their colleges financed by student debt); they can have pools, gyms, bars–so why buy a house? And without more millennials buying homes and buying goods for their home and all that, SEE ABOVE more supply on the market, prices decrease from bubble levels, and same old same old…

It is worth noting that a few economists smarter than I am have said that the pullback in housing has already started.

Here’s some facts from  David Haggith published on The Great Recession Blog:

New-home-construction starts are down 12.3% nationwide to a nine-month low due to the largest single-month drop in more than year and a half. That is a huge sign of a nationwide housing market collapse when you consider that this is the time of year when housing is usually on a tear because weather allows construction everywhere. Instead, construction in the US is down … way down … EVERYWHERE.

While that nine-month period back to the last low in construction was merely propped up by hurricane and wildfire rebuilds, as I said it would be (see articles listed below), we’ve already hit the point where those necessary rebuilds (still happening) are not strong enough to overcome the more general housing decline that is overtaking the nation and many other nations. Significant to that point, housing starts fell in all regions of the country. Both single-family and multi-family housing construction are losing momentum.

As an even clearer sign of where we are headed in the near future, housing construction permits are also down … for the third count (third month in a row). So, the decline in permits is now a trend. While single-family permits saw a small gain of 0.8% in June, multi-family permits dropped 7.6%. June had been expected by economists to bring a rebound that didn’t materialize, setting a new trend firmly in place.

Mortgage applications also fell nationwide this week. Some of which are at 9 year lows.

*Ominous music playing in the distance*

Apartment and spec office

So this one is pretty difficult to explain, and may be the one that is the least plausible, but here it goes.

First off, anecdotal evidence: how many new luxury apartments have you seen built in your city in the last few years? How many new downtown construction sites are there for new office buildings? These should come as no surprise because after all, the market is doing well. People are making more money, so perhaps they want to spend them on expensive office spaces and expensive apartments. So what’s the problem?

Well, my issue is what this is doing to millennials. Young professionals are constantly seeing that they can live in a LUXURY apartment, spending way out of their means to live there, and thus not saving for retirement (or more importantly A FRIGGIN HOUSE). Do you need a bar, workout gym, pool, or a coffee shop in your apartment? You may think so, but it’s not the case. And who’s moving into these apartments? Major cities are seeing substantial growth with new arrivees willing to pay top dollar to live in the hip part of town.

But why is this a problem? Well, I could draw it all back to the fact that millennials aren’t saving for a house, and thus, will cause a housing crisis, but I want to avoid that part for this portion. Instead, we need to look at the developers. The developers, after all, are taking huge risks on these apartments. They’re taking huge loans on a gamble–a gamble that millennials will continue to want these apartments and continue moving to these new cities. But as we learned from 08, the music can’t go on forever. And many of these investors are from out of town. Take a look at who’s building some of the apartments in your city–i’d be willing to bet that a lot of the money is coming from out of town. So what will happen when the community bank that lended to them when the investor starts defaulting and walks away? The same thing that happened in 08.

And let’s look at more risks: millennials may start moving to more rural towns after they become disenfranchised by the rising prices in major cities. After all, the WSJ reported that many small rural towns are finding ways to pay millennials to move there.

Then what else is in the hip part of town? The brand new office buildings (and don’t get me started on how horrible of an idea WeWork is). But spec office in downtown areas is not delivering. We’re seeing previously built buildings foreclosing, and that’s because the demand for these has collapsed.

The point of all of this is that developers are taking huge risks in massive ways all across the country. My question is, what happens when the demand stops, and these investors (and banks) are left with MASSIVE assets, but no one to use them?

Pension Crisis

So you’ve probably heard people talk about pensions lately. There’s some states that are doing worse than others **COUGH COUGH MY HOME STATE OF KENTUCKY COUGH COUGH** but then there’s also the federal pension crisis.

Just to give you my favorite fact: the combined pension hole for US cities and states is the size of Germany’s economy. Let that sink in… That means that these cities and states cannot POSSIBLY keep their promise to the workers of a solid pension in retirement. And that could spell horrible complications for the rest of the society–even if you don’t have a pension.

Keep in mind, here’s my opinion on pensions: a promise is a promise. If you were promised something, you should get it. But here’s the issue: we may have gotten a LITTLE carried away with those promises. CLEARLY.

Most municipalities only have one solution: raise taxes or slash benefits. There’s no other solution. And BOTH those solutions will piss a lot of people off.

There’s a couple other factors that are causing issues. Retirees are living longer and longer, and there are starting to be not enough young workers to support them:

Another problem is predictions. We have people running pensions that are predicting outstanding growth, compounding, and great investments… but that’s clearly not the case.

“The next crisis won’t be secluded to just sub-prime auto loans, student loans, and commercial real estate. It will be fueled by the “run on pensions” when “fear” prevails benefits will be lost entirely.” – Lance Roberts from realinvestmentadvice.com

I want to end this section by PLEADING with all those on a pension to find a way to supplement it. Begin saving for your retirement through a Roth IRA, or see if your pension can blend with a self-funded 401k. Whatever it is, just be sure you’re ready in case one day, you’re told: “we’ve run dry.”

Automation

Automation is an easy one. If you haven’t watched this video, I highly suggest it (Humans Need Not Apply). It’s a 15 minute documentary that breaks down all the ways that robots could take basically ANY job in existence right now. And it’s 4 years old. In the last few years there have been major steps made in robotics, artificial intelligence, and automation. Robotic work could take over a majority of businesses in America tomorrow, and we are vastly unprepared for it. We could see unemployment rising above 25% because humans are inevitably unemployable. During the Great Depression, we had unemployment of 25% as well. If that many people are out of work, and literally unemployable compared to their robotic counterparts, what will we do? Will we see a universal basic income? Who knows. Either way, I’m just trying my best to find ways to seperate myself from our one day robotic overlords.

Tech Overinvestment

This is another easy one, and it goes back to the Everything Bubble (where everything is overpriced and about to POP). Investment in technology and startups has skyrocketed. Keep in mind, in a vacuum, this isn’t a bad thing. We have a great economy, interest rates are low (for now), so people have lots of cash and want to put it in the next big Amazon. But here’s the issue–we’re investing a lot of money in companies that are LOSING MONEY. My favorite punching bag is Tesla, and even though the government has given it $5 billion, it still can’t turn a profit. It’s burning through cash like crazy, and still investors are LINING up to give them more money.

“Uber, the highest-valued private technology company, has rapidly growing revenue but remains highly unprofitable. With revenue of $6.5 billion in 2016, it still registered a net loss of $2.8 billion.” – CNBC

And many of these companies unprofitable by design. Of course one could start a pothole company tomorrow, get a loan for the paving truck and start to grow slowly and organically without taking massive investment and growing rapidly like many companies in Silicon Valley. The world of Silicon Valley is “move fast break things,” so you have to keep up. Many companies in this atmosphere are choosing unprofitability for growth. Investment allows them to grow at an unbelievable rate.

But investments in startups are out of hand. Our society right now puts startups on some type of pedestal, when in reality, they’re not doing as well as we think.

“A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research concludes that, on average, unicorns are roughly 50 percent overvalued. The research, conducted by Will Gornall at the University of British Columbia and Ilya Strebulaev of Stanford, examined 135 unicorns (a start-up company valued at more than a billion dollars, typically in the software or technology sector.). Of those 135, the researchers estimate that nearly half, or 65, should be more fairly valued at less than $1 billion.”

We love shiny. And there’s a lot of shiny to choose from right now.

But how will this cause a recession? Let’s take a look at the last dotcom bubble:

Investopedia:

Many argue that the dotcom boom and bust was a case of too much too fast. Companies that couldn’t decide on their corporate creed were given millions of dollars and told to grow to Microsoft size by tomorrow. When it became clear that most companies couldn’t, much of the free cash coming from venture capitalists to take these companies public suddenly dried up. A lot of ridiculous companies went under, but so did many companies that could have been viable in the right conditions. This purge set back some technologies in Silicon Valley back decades in addition to destroying a lot of capital in failed IPOs.

Conclusion

So first off, I should probably admit that I’m an eternal optimist. The market will always have recessions, but it always rebounds. While I do have fears of the market failing, I definitely don’t know when it will happen, but I know whatever it is, we will persevere.

Secondly, no one knows when the next recession will ACTUALLY happen. I like to think I can predict WHAT will cause it, but NO ONE knows WHEN. Don’t let any of my advice keep you from investing or making any big decisions in the market. The only big mistake you can make in the market is missing out!

Finally, I would love to hear feedback on this blog. If you agree, if you disagree, please let us at Drunken Money know. You can email me at paul@drunkenmoney.com OR you can always comment on our social media. Whatever medium, I’ll try my best to get back to you! Would definitely love to hear your thoughts!

So you want to start a podcast? First off, you made the right choice. I’m biased obviously, but I love podcasts as a medium. You can be driving, running, or relaxing around the house, and you can consistently be learning. And you can learn about anything. Want to learn about a murder committed in the 1970s that you’ve never heard of, but is CRAZY? Well there’s a podcast for that. Hoping to get into mediation more deeply? There’s a podcast for that. Or maybe you’re a millennial who wants to learn more about personal finance, adulting, and entrepreneurialism, then there’s OBVIOUSLY a podcast about that.

But what’s your podcast going to be? For the sake of this podcast, I’m going to assume you already have an idea, and we’re not going to go too deeply on what your podcast should be about, but my only advice is that you make sure you do it on something you’re passionate about. It makes it way more fun, and if you find it interesting, there’s almost a guarantee that someone else will too.

But let’s get down to it. There are a few things you need to start a podcast, and we have suggestions on all of them:

Website

You need a website first and foremost. You probably have some experience with what it’s like to build a website, and believe me, there’s a million ways to do it. So what’s the best way?

Squarespace

There’s the already-made, less customizable, ready-to-go websites like Squarespace. Now this is what I would suggest for anyone who doesn’t want to spend much time making a website. And plus, you’re a podcast. You don’t need a super flashy, crazy website–you need a website that gets your content out there and displays your brand. I think Squarespace does a good job at that AND has plenty of podcast templates. It’s also pretty easy to publish your rss feed and get your podcast off the ground a bit faster.

WordPress

For the ambitious out there who want a bit more control on their podcast, there’s also WordPress. Through WordPress you can have more choices and a lot of customization options. You’re basically building it yourself. There’s unlimited plug-ins, templates, and tools to help build a successful podcast through WordPress, BUT it takes more work.

FULL DISCLOSURE: we started with a website on WordPress because John wanted to learn how to build a website. Long story short, it sucked, so we ended up paying someone (Jon Matar) to help us make one. When we did that, however, it made it so much easier for the developer to convert our website because we already had content on WordPress they could use.

If I could go back and do it all again, I would have done Squarespace to start, and then when we had more money, paid someone to build us one on WordPress. Squarespace is just an easy way to have something that looks gorgeous immediately, easily, and cheaply. Soapbox over.

Equipment

Microphone

There’s a million options here for microphones. Remember, your audio is now the only thing you have, so it’s definitely worth it to have good equipment, but don’t overthink it. If you have great content, you’ll catch a break.

But for microphones, there’s the cheapest option: your iPhone or Android (you’d actually be surprised at how great the audio is on phones), and then there’s the most expensive option: the Heil PR 40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone. But you don’t have to blow the bank to get studio-grade equipment. Drunken Money swears by the Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone . These are great, offer professional grade audio, not too expensive, and plug directly into your computer via usb. Super simple.

Hardware

Once you have the recording equipment, many people will tell you that you now need a setup to plug your mics into, where you can mash and mix and mess with the sound, but honestly, you can do a lot on your computer. We have a usb splitter that gives you extra usb ports, so we can get three mics plugged in at once, but then all the audio collects on the machine.

Software

Again, LOTS of options out there, but since this is Drunken Money, we always go with the best bang for our buck. For all of our podcasts, we use Garageband, the native audio mixer on all Macs. There’s another GREAT application called Audacity. I don’t know how it’s free because it is SO great, and honestly, it’s probably what Drunken Money should be using…

Podcast hosting

There are two big players out there when it comes to podcast hosting: Libsyn and Blubrry. Both of these have monthly pricing, easy publishing, and plugins that work with wordpress and website templates super easily. To be honest, it doesn’t REALLY matter what you pick, but FULL DISCLOSURE, we go with Libsyn, and we’ve been nothing but happy (we originally used Soundcloud, but it didn’t give us as many stats as we wanted).

Logos, Design, Intros, etc

This is where you get to have some marketing fun and branding!

Logos

You probably know a few friends right know who could design you an awesome logo, and we strongly encourage this (but make sure you pay full price for someone’s work – we, at Drunken Money, are all about saving money, but we’re also about supporting friends and family and MAKING money. If someone is taking the time to make you a logo, you NEED to pay them for their services. You don’t want to show up on /r/choosingbeggars!)

There’s also tons of options online if you don’t know any graphic designers. Drunken Money used a website called www.40dollarlogo.com. Pretty straight forward obviously. There’s also Fiverr, where you can get ANYTHING done. It’s a pretty cheap freelance website with awesome people.

Podcast Intro

Again, you can have as much fun here as you want, but you have to get soemthing that perfectly introduces your brand, makes sense, and sounds a bit professional. We used Fiverr for this. We found someone who makes podcast intros for a living, gave her a script, and now we have the intro you, our listener, hear on every podcast. We love it.

Guests/content

Once you have an idea and the equipment, you can publish anything you want, but now it’s time to get some content and guests. You’d be surprised how willing people are to come on your show. Whatever it is, people love talking about themselves (myself included), so giving them an option to share their story and knowledge with a wide audience makes finding guests easy. The key to having a successful podcast is having big names, and then having THEM repost it. That’s it. But in reality, you’re not going to have Jennifer Lawrence on your show tomorrow, so start small, and eventually, you’ll get a big name that will want to help you out.

Conclusion

Starting a podcast was one of the best decisions I ever made. It all started with a drunken evening with a buddy I met networking, but it’s turned into something that I love doing every week. I get to meet so many people, learn more about EVERYTHING, and of course have a few drinks.

I cannot stress enough: if you’re thinking about starting a podcast, just do it. It doesn’t’t have to perfect. You have the rest of your life to make it perfect. But the more you wait, the further behind you’ll always be from the early adopters.

Hi. I’m Paul Heintzman.

Co-Host and Executive Producer of Drunken Money. What is Drunken Money? Well, let me explain. First off, millennials need help with finance. 45% of millennials aren’t saving for retirement, 30% are overdrawing their bank accounts, and student debt is in the trillions.

And I’m John Ackerman.

And that’s why we started Drunken Money. We’re helping millennials with personal finance, entrepreneurship, and ADULTING. And we’re we’re learning with you. So if we want to learn about real estate, we bring on a millennial realtor or mortgage lender, have a few drinks, and on go the microphones. If we want to learn about investing, we get a millennial CFA or financial advisor and a couple shot of bourbon, and we cover the basics. And for entrepreneurship?

We’ve had on our show an LA music artist, a silicon valley startup, brewery owners, brewery SHOP owners and much much more. And we’re not stopping there.

If you want to make the most out of your younger years, take back your finances, and enjoy a few drinks with us, take the time to like our page. Our you can find our podcast on itunes, podcast addict, Overcast, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Story from Forbes

Is the freedom of press under attack? Are podcasters a threat to society? The Department of Homeland Security certainly thinks so.

As part of its “media monitoring,” the DHS seeks to track more than 290,000 global news sources as well as social media in over 100 languages, including Arabic, Chinese and Russian, for instant translation into English. The successful contracting company will have “24/7 access to a password protected, media influencer database, including journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.” in order to “identify any and all media coverage related to the Department of Homeland Security or a particular event.”

“Any and all media coverage,” as you might imagine, is quite broad and includes “online, print, broadcast, cable, radio, trade and industry publications, local sources, national/international outlets, traditional news sources, and social media.”

There you have it. The Department of Homeland Security thinks it’s necessary to monitor bloggers, podcasters, local journalists, and everyone in between? Why? Well, some of the reasons seem a bit convoluted, but much of it seems to be circling the insurgence of “fake news” and the thought that all news should be monitored. Let’s not forget when an Indiana State Rep wanted to have all journalists licensed. It’s all seeming a bit 1984 for me.

To Drunken Money, what is the creepiest part of this whole report, is what the DHS hopes to do with this information. If you’re a content creator or a journalist, could you be subject to harsher times leaving the country or not get a Visa? That may not be the craziest thing to happen especially because if you want to get a Visa, you better be prepared to hand over the last five years of your social media history.

Again, it’s all quite frightening, especially for anyone who calls themselves a creator or a blogger or a podcaster, and Drunken Money isn’t even that popular. I can’t even imagine how some of the popular podcasters must feel right now…

Job Shortages

You’ve probably heard about the job shortage in America. Many cities and towns are struggling to find workers for a wide-range of jobs such as manufacturers, engineers, mechanics, and many more. And with unemployment at an 18 year low (and the Federal Reserve forecasting even lower unemployment over the next year), it is clear that there simply aren’t enough people to fill these jobs.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting now that many midwestern towns are paying millennials to move there to combat this job shortage. These can come in many forms, but few millennials are receiving grants to pay down their student loans, make a down payment on their home, and in one rare case, the chamber of commerce held a ceremony to give the recipient an even bigger check.

Millennials on the Move

Since 2007-2009, many millennials have opted to move away from rural towns instead to big cities such as San Francisco, Austin, or New York, but these cities are having their rents skyrocketing way past wages. Now the idea of moving to some of these cities would be unimaginable because of the rent alone. And the rural towns that these millennials left behind are now struggling in their own way. Small businesses are all ranking labor shortages as their No. 1 business concern, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. What other way to get millennials to move back, then to offer them more money?

It’s clear that there is an issue in America, so these small towns such as Hamilton, OH are finding new ways to bring the right talent to fill in the gaps. Time will tell if this strategy will work.

Everyone likes to talk about how millennials are industry killers. Well we’re going to break it down, talk about a few of these industries, and maybe what we should kill next. This is millennials: industry killers.

Here are the shoutouts:

• MadTree PSA: the beer we drank
• Milewide
• Hooters and Buffalo Wild Wings
• Applebee’s
• Top Golf
• Dave and Buster’s
• Dove Men+Care
• Heuser Health
• OrangeTheory
• NFL
• Exxon
• Ticketmaster
• Venmo
• Smart Data Systems
• Taylor Swift, Foo Fighters, and Phish
• Impossible Patty

Here’s the article with all the industries that millennials are killing. 

WE’VE BEEN ASKED A FEW TIMES WHY WE STARTED DRUNKEN MONEY, SO WE WANTED TO FLIP THE SCRIPT AND LET JOHN RONAYNE, OUR FAVORITE HOMEBREWER FROM BREWGRASS HOMEBREW SUPPLY, INTERVIEW US WHILE WE BREWED OUR NEWEST BEER, THE ROTH IPA.

SISUN LEE, FOUNDER/CEO OF MORNING RECOVERY, JOINS US TO DISCUSS HOW HE MANAGES HIS STARTUP’S GROWTH IN SILICON VALLEY.

• Sisun explains how he came up with the idea for Morning Recovery and executed his idea into a successful company.
  • His Korean heritage (and Koreans’ affinity for drinking) was one of the keys to getting the idea for the product.
  • He had tried similar drinks in Korea, and wanted to dive into the science behind the drinks and how he could create his own product.
• DHM, an antioxidant found in Korean raisin trees, is the secret to Morning Recovery’s success.
• After creating the drink with the help of Dr. Jing Liang, a USC professor, Sisun gave prototypes to his friends at Tesla, Uber, and Facebook.
• Overwhelming demand forced Sisun to quit his job at Tesla and work full-time for Morning Recovery.
• Indiegogo was the first major step in evaluating market demand. 
• Sisun explains how he manages the company’s explosive growth.
  • Being first to market was a major factor in the growth.
• To test Morning Recovery, Sisun would give his friends placebo bottles and measure against new formulas.
• Version 2 will be released soon, as the Morning Recovery team underestimated how much people drink with the release of Version 1.
  • We were lucky enough to receive a sample of Version 2!
• Sisun tells us what it’s like managing venture capital and potential investors in Silicon Valley (there are more investors willing to invest than Morning Recovery can accept!).
  • Their Series A round will be launched in the first quarter of 2018.
• Silicon Valley has played a huge impact on the success of the company.
  • It is much easier to be successful if you’re surrounded by like-minded people.
  • Sisun only considered in Los Angeles and New York for the headquarters of Morning Recovery.
  • The location also plays a huge role in finding talent to work for the company.
  • Small things, such as being able to go to parties with social media celebrities, provide invaluable exposure for the company.
• What separates successful startups in Silicon Valley from the others?
  • It all comes down to execution and having a clear focus.
  • Morning Recovery is not the first hangover cure, just as Soylent is not the first meal replacement.
  • The success can be attributed to having great products and being very marketable.
• What is Sisun’s “normal” work schedule?
  • It’s a fire drill – get the most urgent thing done everyday.
  • Every employee is a generalist and can be called on to perform any task.
  • It’s impossible to think even one month ahead because of the intense workload. Everything is day-to-day.
• What’s next with Morning Recovery?
  • Version 2 is coming to market soon and should be the main product in the future.
  • Version 1 was a good test and measure of customer demand, but was primiarily .
  • There also could be pills/powder sold online to provide a cheaper alternative than a bottled drink.

LAST CALL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

• What’s the best career advice you’ve received?
  • You need to focus on the most impactful thing the company needs, identify it, and get it done.
  • Go above and beyond your job description.
• What advice would your 60-year-old self give you today?
  • Be more bold (it seems many older people regret not taking action).
• The best thing you have spent money on in the past 6 months:
  • Nami Sake
• What media do you recommend:
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
• Favorite thing to drink:
  • Nami Sake
  • Whiskey
  • Hennessy Cognac

SPECIAL SHOUTOUTS AND SHOW NOTES:

• Indiegogo
• Tesla
• Uber
• Facebook
• Soylent – John’s daily lunch

Be sure to learn more about Sisun and Morning Recovery by checking out the company’s website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Have any topics you want to be covered or amazing people you’d like us to interview? Let us know! You can email us at info@drunkenmoney.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Linkedin. Please be sure to subscribe to our weekly mailing list at drunkenmoney.com/subscribe.

ABOUT SISUN:

Prior to starting Morning Recovery, Sisun was a staff product manager at Tesla, and a product manager at Uber and Facebook. He graduated with a Systems Design Engineering degree from the University of Waterloo.

His story with Morning Recovery begins with his trip to Korea where he witnessed locals frequently taking drinking supplements after drinking alcohol. Back in the States, he dove into research, and created Morning Recovery with the goal of helping people get back their time.

“We want you to wake up the next morning feeling amazing and ready to tackle your day.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sisunlee/

After a lot of work, we’re finally ready to unveil our first episode of Drunken Money News. DM News is our video installment with your host Paul Heintzman to share quick updates on the news as pertains to millennials. We’re on the lookout for exciting stories that may have been missed by the mainstream and will certainly make sense to millennials.

On today’s episode we cover the following:

• Home Depot panics over millennials
• Bitcoin mining rigs to heat your home
• Housing prices growing twice as fast as wages
• Retail returns returning to landfills
• Industry killed my millennials

With that being said, this is our first episode, so we’re hoping to have many more! If you find something interesting in the news, please share! Also, please let us know what you think of this new medium below!