BOP IT Consult with CLEAR Technology - Transcripts

Morning. Hey, good morning. Good morning. You Doing good? How are you? I'm doing well. Thank you. I'm waiting. Let's see.
My coworker. Doug is supposed to pop on with us. Okay. No problem. The, uh, happy Tuesday. Happy Tuesday to you too.
Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for taking the time. I'm looking forward to discussing your company and seeing how, uh, me and my team can offer guidance and be some of some assistance in your, uh, you know, growth.
Okay. Um, Okay. There he is. Good morning. Uh, good morning. Good. How are you doing good. I'm Matthew. Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you. Pleasure. Well, thanks for taking the time, um, where, you know, we're doing a discovery here to see if, uh, it would be a good fit for your company to have us assist you with it cybersecurity.
Um, and I also like to point out that because I'm a really small team, which has a lot of advantages for other small teams.
Um, I'm also looking to make sure that you're a good fit for us, because I want to make sure that we can deliver on the things that you need.
Um, you know, there's a lot of companies out there, um, that do what we do. And so you have a lot of choices.
And, um, one thing you find is in my experience, um, smaller teams are better for smaller teams because small teams can be nimble.
They can be good to respond quickly. Um, and that's one of our advantages, I think. Um, so, uh, I've been doing this for 20 years, so I'm not looking to grow exponentially.
All of my clients, um, about four dozen are really tight with us. Um, so we like to keep it that way too.
Perfect. So I've got some preliminary notes, um, but usually on calls, I like to just kind of hear where you guys are at and what you're looking for and how I can help with some guidance and information about, you know, filling in some of the gaps and where you might go and what your options are.
You want to give them the assessment? Sure. Okay. So, um, we currently use, um, Google suite. So that's for our email.
Um, we have a dedicated, I guess it's an email server type of thing. Um, we don't have, we're a small group, it's 14 of us.
Uh, we all work remotely for the most part with a couple of days, maybe in the office, um, where our desire is to, I mean, what we have with Google seems to work well for our small group, but we need added security by us having multiple, we all use Mac books, et cetera, except for, I think one of our executives, she prefers to use her PC, but we're all Mac.
Um, and by us working remotely and also, um, you know, some, some bar people are in the field and we want to make sure that we stay secure and safe.
Um, so the security is really important, um, that we're really looking for. We're looking for that. We're all safe, that what we're sending is safe, that we're receiving is safe.
Um, and we know we learned, um, a week or so ago that Google has added this extra layer of security within their, you know, the company-wide.
So it, it affected us a little bit with our copier, like little simple things. Um, we're also looking for like a dedicated it support.
Like, as you mentioned with it being a small group, we know we can call Matt and his team and we know that, you know, what we need, you know, and that we could, um, we don't have to talk to several people.
Um, there tends to be when you work, as you said, smaller groups work with smaller groups tends to be a quicker response time.
Um, more, we're not having to wait a couple of days or a week for things to be fixed. Um, I think we're right now, we're kind of being, um, preventative versus rushing in and intervention because, you know, we're, we're growing and we're growing quickly and we want to make sure that we have all our systems in place.
So Doug and I are fairly new to the organization, but with our background, we're kind of trying to, you know, we're trying to work more efficiently, smarter, not harder.
So, um, you know what we have, like I mentioned in the brief questionnaire, I mean, we're okay with what we have.
I mean, we're, we're not against it. We just need added levels of security. Um, we work with the company currently and it also services our copier machine.
So we're, you know, we're talking to different companies to see, yeah, you guys may be able to be well for us, for our copiers, but we need a different level of support for it.
So that's where we, you know, um, our executive director recommended us contact you. So that's why, why you're here. Okay.
Anything to add Doug? No. Um, Eric are pretty much summed it up. Um, the number of individuals we have, the fact that we're all cloud-based, um, as far as, um, security, I'm not sure exactly what an it can company can do with us as far as sure enough, our security, just basically maybe helping us write out protocols and stuff like that.
Um, and then there's also, um, I think what was it maybe like we had like maybe less than four or five it questions maybe a month so far when it comes to Yeah, it's been really, really, we don't, I guess, because most of us are kind of self-sufficient, we don't really, we haven't had, thankfully we've only had about, like Doug said about four or five, it calls and I think three of them were about the same thing.
Yeah. So, yeah, it's not, if we don't, um, We don't need a lot of, Well, I mean, based on what you've, what you've described to me, you're, you're a really good fit for the type of service that we offer in a number of different ways.
Um, first of all, we offer three plans that allow you to kind of, we start very simply what we call the pay as you go plan, which has no monthly fees, but you essentially get entire full access to us.
Right. Cause I, I, I really love working with people and solving challenges. Um, you know, I've been doing this for two decades and my team has also been doing this for a long time as well.
So we have a lot of muscle memory, you know, we often get calls from other companies, um, that have another it provider that is not giving them good solutions and we offer the pay as you go, because we will just want to be available to people when they need support.
So we don't create any sort of low bar to reach, to be able to contact us. So a lot of companies start with us just right there, just because they know they can just jump right in and start getting support.
And then I don't do contracts because my good services comp is my contract. If I'm going to do good service, then my clients will continue to return to me.
So, um, so that's the sort of no bar level of entry to work with us. Um, the other reason we're a good fit is because, um, your cybersecurity, so cybersecurity, as we all know, is becoming more and more important.
And unfortunately, because we're forced to go there with like these, you know, big company hacks and solar winds and your data has been released into the internet and like all this kind of stuff.
Um, so it companies like mine, they are adding sort of packing cybersecurity into what they're already doing. Traditionally. It was like, it guys did it.
And then cybersecurity guys were like a separate breed. And there was sort of like a high paywall to kind of get to those guys to review your stuff.
I kind of saw that writing on the wall a long time ago and I was like, you know, cybersecurity naturally touches everything we're doing in it anyways, because we're working in Google workspace, we're working inside of Microsoft 365 where it's like all the services you're touching, um, have to do with cybersecurity anyways.
So anything that cybersecurity related is almost certainly going to segue or directly relate to some other things we're already doing.
So for us, the starting point for you guys and what, what has also become the starting point for most of my new client prospects is our free cybersecurity review, which is a form that's on our website.
Um, if you go to our website and you click services, you'll see cyber security review, and it's a form that will take you, I don't know, 10 minutes to fill out.
And it asks a bunch of comprehensive questions about like the services you use, two factor authentication servers, like all kinds of stuff.
And then we will take about three days to sort of chew on it and then send you a high level, um, action plan essentially.
Um, and that's going to highlight any sort of a critical items that we would like recommend we address immediately and then sort of secondarily important items that would be recommended to address but night might not be as important as the sort of high level, really critical things.
And that's usually now where I'm steering people in terms of a first place to get started because a, it doesn't cost you anything.
And B I'm, we're giving you some value. We're saying here, we're going to do a little work. We're going to show you what you may need.
And then it'll re include a, it, if you want us to execute these things, it's going to take two hours or four hours to go through the list and get all of this stuff done.
Um, so the cybersecurity that you're looking for, that's going to be something that is quite comprehensive, that we've made for you, um, in terms of what you've said about what you use.
I think you're probably positioned pretty good already. Um, so if you're on Google, Google is like, you know, the king of the internet, they're the first to introduce new technologies that other companies like to emulate.
So in terms of security, I mean, they're their systems and you are likely aware of this already, either through your own personal Gmail account or through your Google workspace account for your business.
Is there like forcing security on you? I mean, they're not that the days of like a single simple password don't even exist anymore, really like you have to have at minimum, a two step authentication code to your phone.
Um, so, and then, like you said, they've added, uh, six different options for security. You can do authenticator apps, you can do backup codes.
Like you can do a number of things to enhance security, but the base level generally keeps people safe. And then also, because Google knows so much about everybody on the internet, they oftentimes, even if somebody is able to know some of your security authentication, it, block them anyways, because of unusual behavior, right?
So someone tried to log in from, you know, wherever, and that's not your normal behavior. So like, you know, there's a lot of security already built in.
Um, and then you said most, most of you are on max. That's great. Max are just inherently secure. You know, the old adage is like apples don't get viruses like PCs.
Do. The only reason that was, is mostly true is because apples from the beginning, the programming language they use to build the operating system required admin authentication for any, um, any task.
Right? So, whereas windows allowed executable where something literally email could just open and install itself. Um, so apples, it's not, it's not that you can't write viruses for them.
It's that virus hackers didn't want to do it because the bar was too high to get tricked someone literally into installing your virus.
So apple has increased security over the years as has windows, but apple is like, you know, if you have an apple wanting some sort of malware, um, protection is smart because malware actually is a little easier to get into your browsers.
Um, but like full sort of like ransomware kind of stuff that you hear, people encounter where their, their system gets blocked and the packer wants you to pay money or something.
That's almost like non-existent in the apple world. So of course we will take some additional steps through the cybersecurity form with turning on disk level encryption on your, um, computer so that if it's lost or stolen someone, can't just get your data out.
They it's, you know, it's like a brick to them basically. Um, but all of that said to say, just on what I know of you already, your security posture is probably already pretty darn good.
Um, and there's probably little things to tick off, um, like financial accounts and cloud-based or other cloud-based services and stuff like that.
Um, We're at you. Um, what if one of us is a PC user? Like what are the, that, that pub list to the organization?
If one person is going to go against the grain and use a PC? Yeah, well, yeah. So w you know, windows used to be ubiquitous and now apple is like the biggest company in the world.
So they've slowly sort of taken over and like, everybody has an apple device. Certain people still do use windows. There's some muscle memory there, or, um, you know, they work in an industry where like their specialty apps.
There's a few of those that still exist that don't translate to Mac. So, um, you know, lawyers being one that comes top of mind, um, if they're on windows, that's fine.
So windows has gotten better. They've added more security. I mean, obviously that was a big complaint for lot of years, um, in, in the computing world.
Um, and we have three windows specialists to be able to address the needs of a windows user. So the cybersecurity stuff, um, will give us some insight to that.
And then we'll be able to have the windows user, uh, you know, kind of secure their accounts as well in their, their computers.
Um, I think the only other thing to point out is ease of access. I mean, I'm, I'm touching on the things that are most common, but also the things I'm hearing from you.
I mean, um, ease of access. Um, so I don't know if you can tell, but I've been doing tech support first for 10 years as a solo preneur.
And then the second 10 years, I just started naturally attracting a lot of, um, businesses that wanted sort of like clear, no nonsense.
Like action-based, let's just get stuff done, kind of it support. And so w I do operations along with, uh, our guy Vishal.
Who's mostly like online responding to emails, stuff like that. So when you call, you get me and I, um, have a ton of muscle memory.
I mean, I, you know, take the Pepsi challenge of anybody out there who runs a company that also knows how to do the tech.
So, um, I often can give you quick answers and shortcuts and, uh, if not then, well, I mean, I mostly can, but oftentimes I'm going to give you a quick direction to getting in the calendar for one of our other guys to dig into an issue that you might have.
Um, so ease of access when you're a, it subscriber, you have a 405 number that rings directly to me. So if you need something, you call it or you texted, um, on our website, um, I'll just pull it up so you can, we can look at it together.
No, sorry, security. We computer wants me to do Now. Matt, can I ask you a question for that? Um, you just mentioned as a, as an it subscriber that 4 1 5 number that's direct access, is that direct access to who would be our dedicated team or just all of your subscribers have that direct access.
Yeah. So the 4, 1 5 number is listed on our website. Right. But I don't, you'd be surprised the honor system works pretty well.
Like I don't really get calls on there from people that, um, have not explicitly that don't explicitly know that that's the number for them.
People sort of like cold calls or, or just sort of a solo preneur type of calls that we get a lot, um, go to our main line.
Um, so you'll get the 4 1 5 number, and really, I get those calls from the four dozen clients that we have, right.
So that line is open to me 24 7. Um, and the, uh, main line is open Monday through Friday nine to five, So you can call it.
So I'm going to pull this up here in a second. I think we should work now. So on the website, um, if you go to pricing, um, our pricing will pop up here in a moment.
There we go. So the page you go, that's no fees, but our highest rates for service, the hourly plan, which is the most popular, um, is a small fee per user per month.
And then our rates go down for in-person or remote. And then the bulk plan is good for, um, you know, 10 or more users usually, um, because of just the way that the pricing breaks out.
Um, it's a larger fee, uh, per month. It gets you four hours of support included every month. Um, and then the there's a small per user fee, but then our rates go down.
Um, so then for, you know, any remote support or in person support, you're paying the least amount of money. Um, if you're a nonprofit, 15% discount applies to the flat fees.
Um, but I don't, we don't apply those to the labor, to the labor fees. That's still nice. Nice, nice. Thank you.
15% discount to flat On the flat fees. Yeah. Um, so, and then the cybersecurity, if you did go pay as you go, um, we do charge a fee to do the, the, um, the, the action plan.
So, um, basically the first review you'll get back, we'll do for free. I should actually probably clean up the language, but the first review you'll get back is free and that's high level.
So we won't give you like detail on like, do this, this, and this we'll say, you know, high level, this thing is not as secure as it could be.
That kind of thing. So it's bullet points. And then if you wanted us to go and take action, then we're gonna, you know, we're going to ask to charge a fee to go start doing some work on that.
Um, and then, um, that's that in terms of services, the cybersecurity review is here. You just push a button, it'll pop up and you just need just go through there.
Um, besides for that, our books support or a contact button will take you to the same page. This is every way you could possibly get service from us.
So not only do you have your numbers, you can send a message directly through here. And then these buttons are direct to our calendar with all availability.
And you can just jump straight ahead to getting support and booking some support from a technician that you need w any issue for, um, all of the things are all reviewed by me and Vishal operations throughout the day.
So, um, you generally are not waiting more than an hour to get a response from us. It's it's anything besides a call or a text.
That's great. Um, so that's kind of the top to bottom of it. I mean, the, the main page is going to give you some detail about how we look at cybersecurity.
I always start there because any answers you give me the cybersecurity automatically touch on things that have to do with it.
So the cybersecurity is like the simplest way for me to like, collect the most relevant information. And then from there, I'm going to have any additional questions are going to be all related to those kinds of topics.
Um, but these are the sort of the high points of what cyber, you know, the cyber stuff is. Um, and then otherwise we give you all the stuff that you're used to, you know, you should expect from any it company.
The service desk is just the phone stuff, emails, you know, um, scheduling the technician. Um, we keep, uh, you'll have a portal.
So in the client menu, you have a plant portal where you can log in, you can see like your billing, you can see your invoices, you can see your open tickets, you can see your credentials area, where we store like passwords and stuff like that.
Um, you can see all that stuff. Um, we have a wiring guys. We run around doing all kinds of wiring jobs.
So we, we do, uh, commercial wiring. We do residential wiring, um, like data, and then we have two network specialists.
So then we've got guys that go in and we've seen every kind of Wi-Fi like thing under the sun. Um, so we can do wifi setups and fixing Wi-Fi and all that kind of stuff.
Um, the proactive system monitoring, it's a really common application that, uh, it companies like us use. Um, when you first work with us, you'll go to this it user onboard form.
And what you'll do is, um, each of your users will onboard themselves, which we'll have them download the little app to install it to their system.
And it gives us all what it does is it's completely passive. We have no remote access, but it scans the health of the computer, like the vitals once every hour in the background.
And if anything's wrong, it sends us a notification. And then we'll reach out to you and say, oh, there's like an eminent hard drive failing on so-and-so's oh, there's a there's malware on somebody's computer.
Um, so we call it proactive monitoring. It's really common in the industry. It's through a company called Watchman monitoring. Um, so this is how your users will onboard.
So it's, uh, it builds our user list and it gets everybody's assets all linked up to our system, all in kind of one simple form.
And then moving forward, you'd off-board users using this form, someone who leaves and then we'll kind of shut everything down.
The reason this is relevant is because all of our pricing, if you do the hourly or the bulk plan is based on the contacts in your contact book.
So anyone who's in there, the system will, the way the billing works is you'll, um, log we'll log a credit card into the system.
And then there's all the tickets that get open for various things and technicians log their time and the tickets. And then at the end of the month, the system will auto collect all of those pending ticket charges, stick them all into an invoice with all the details you have, like everything.
And then it auto charges the card, and then send you all of that as a receipt. Um, and so the flat fees are based on the contact list count.
So if you off-board somebody that person's taken off the list, and if you onboard somebody, then they're added to the list and that's how the, the flat seats are tabulated.
Um, And this particular is this flat fee, as you mentioned, this would be the 15% non-profit discount would apply for, you said flat fees, right?
So this, Yeah. So the 29 is that the 4 99, 15 off that in the 19 is 15 off that. Okay. So that's the hourly and bulk plants.
Okay. Yeah. There's no flat seas for pay as you go, Right. Obviously. Okay, perfect. This is good. And you know what, I think I'm misspeaking about this.
Cause I know that we, the shawl and I reworked this cause we have offered our security plan differently over the, to try to make it fit better.
We used to have three pricings for it. And I think now, because with pay, as you go has like no commitments at all.
I think what we were, our plan was that our 2 99 was for that initial review. Makes sense. I just didn't want to say one thing and then have my language on the website be different.
Um, and I think we did that because we, we wanted to, in some ways, encourage people to go to the hourly plan.
I mean, that's just one of those kinds of upselling kind of things. Um, but also, cause we spend like two hours reviewing your cybersecurity, um, plan to make the initial, uh, high level assessment, um, which we do for free if you do any of these phones.
Okay. So I'm piggybacking off of this particular, uh, the cyber assessment that you showed us. Um, so that 2 99 would be, as you mentioned, just high level, but not detailed, not the detailed plan, right.
Because the detailed plan is an extra fee. So yeah. So I would just reading this myself and I'm like w reminding myself of how we work this.
So yeah, the 2 99 is for the initial high-level and then after, um, to implement the, um, console. Okay. Yeah. And then we'll talk to you for an hour, basically about what we found.
So essentially get three hours for that. So we'll do them two hours, break it all down, then we'll get on a zoom and go over it together.
And then, um, if you wanted to take action on anything, then that's just a ticket and based on the ticket time.
So then we just open the ticket and say, oh, this is for this item on the action plan, cyber action plan, and a tech we'll hop in, we give you that estimate upfront.
So like, if it was, um, you know, going through each of your financial accounts, which is a common one to make sure that like two step is authenticated and set up correctly and, and all that kind of stuff, we may say, oh, that'll take an hour.
Then that would likely be the hour that get charged to the ticket. And then that's part of the billing for the month that that would be wrapped up in that month's billing.
Okay. Um, yeah. Uh, I don't know what else to show you. Um, so the, um, so the enrollment, so you can push this button and then there's an enrollment.
Um, I don't tell people they have to do this first. So cause people that want to go as a pay as you go, when it gets closer to billing, and if we've done work for that month, then I'll just do the things so that our system is ready to process billing.
I'll reach out to, and either say, let's get the enrollment done, or I'll call you and say, let me hand jammer card into the system.
Um, you can do that through here. You can choose. And it's just a quick form. It's, it's kinda cool. Cause like, if you did the hourly plan, it's sort of like gamified system say I have 14 users it tabulated, and if you have the discount and click that and it changes it.
Right. So, Um, yeah. Um, so there's that, and then the, uh, service agreement, that's our page that talks in detail about the different things.
Um, so when, when you sign up, um, we'll create a PDF of this cause we update it from time to time and we'll send it to you.
So you have a copy of what the language was at the time that you did enrollment. Um, the only thing about pricing is that, um, we, we don't have contracts, but when you do a plan it's, you can cancel at any time, but you it's a three month commitment for, for changing plans.
And we only do that because when we first started doing this, we left it really loose and then we'd have clients that would have like a big old project and they'd get the bulk plan to get the lowest rates.
And then as soon as the project was over, they would like, cancel, they'd cancel it where they'd like move to the page you go.
So what we do is if you pick a plan, that's your plan for three months, unless you want to move up, I'll never stop you from moving up.
But if you want to move down, we'll hold you to whatever plan you're in for three months and then you can change after that.
Makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, wow. This is, um, I like a lot of information and, um, you have provided a lot of information for us.
Um, your website is really detailed, which helps a lot too. Um, so as I mentioned earlier, you know, where you're the second, um, company that we're talking to.
Um, because as I said, our EDD recommended that we contacted you. So, um, you know, we're, we're trying, we're in conversation with our current or existing.
Um, it, uh, but I feel like, you know, you provided a little more information, so, um, where I took a lot of notes, um, so we'll have to discuss it with our bosses.
Um, but yeah. Is there like something that you could also send us? I mean, I'll type up my notes for our internal, but is there information then in the case that they, you know, ask, Hey, we want to, Well, of course, yes.
So we'll, um, build a, a webpage that will have all of the things we've discussed in the details about billing and like all of the fun stuff.
And then, um, I have been recording this call and, uh, we will, um, get it onto loom and that will transcribe the whole thing.
So we have like, uh, we can search our discussion and you can look stuff up and you can rewatch the video that will be on included on the website as well.
So you'll be able to have kind of everything. And, um, if you had questions, um, I mean don't hesitate to reach out and you can just go to the contact page.
And I tell all my clients, um, you know, whether or not I ended up being the vendor. Um, I w I, my priority is offering good support for anybody.
So it's not uncommon for me to get calls from people who have an it vendor who have some sort of need that is not being filled and they want some support.
And I'm happy to, to, to fill that, or I'm happy to offer guidance around other it choices you might make.
Um, because I, in the end, I, you know, I'm busy and we're doing fine and everybody's happy. So I, my priority is always like getting my customers the best service and the best direction on their, on their technology support.
So there's nothing stopping you from calling me, asking to open a ticket. We need a little help on this, anything like that, happy to do it.
And so I'm always available if you need something. That's great. Thank you so much. Thank you for, um, like I said, being, um, giving us con sensitive information, cause it makes a difference.
Cause I, you notice we don't have a lot of questions you provided like, Doug, do you have questions? Do you have any, Um, everything we hit them with in the beginning, that's pretty much where we're at and kind of like, well we need, so, um, it's more like, um, us giving you the information, you kind of like giving us assessment and that's kind of like giving it yet what we need and how we can work with it.
But everything you laid out was a lot more clearer. I'll be perfectly honest with everyone that we've talked to so far when it came down to the, this is what we could do.
This is how much it costs us. We appreciate that. Sure. Yeah. I think you guys, honestly, what it'll end up being is doing a little bit of cyber, which is probably not going to be a lot.
And then probably some little Nicky knack stuff that we find through the cyber review, like, oh, you know, we should do this with so-and-so and then it's probably just like, you know, as needed.
We're probably just going to have needs kind of ongoing and you know, here and there, and that's, you know, I've done this long enough now that I kind of like, get a sense of like where someone's at, just sort of with a little, you know, basic information.
So that would be my, my gut, cause you're not coming in with the project, which is the other like 50% of the time we get a prospect.
It's like, I have a project I want to do, and this is what I want to focus on first. And Archie's okay.
And we can do that later. I just want to like migrate to Google or I want to like set it, you know, I have a new building and we want to throw some wiring in and get a network ready and you want to onboard, you know, 10 computers for employees or whatever.
So from what you're telling me, it's, it's likely going to be low touch, you know, kind of in the front end, You don't want any, um, any major, um, fires we hope, um, you know, like I, like I mentioned, you know, we're, the existing is fine, but it's just that now that work is picking up, you know, we, um, we do want to make sure that we have, um, direct it support and, um, you know, I'm really impressed with the small, you know, small group for, you know, you guys are a small group for a small group and it, it makes a difference.
So, um, and I, I agree with, uh, like you have provided the most information, the most information, most robust information, and your website is very clear.
So anything that we, if we did have any questions, we know we can just go on the website and it's all there.
Like, you know, we, when this is the most information, so it's kind of like, it's nice, cause we don't have questions because you've provided all the information that we needed for a little bit of help that we're looking for.
So, um, Right. And let me say, I also would like to point out that I would personally invested in your mission.
Um, I'm married into a beautiful and incredible black family and I have mixed it and, um, we live in east Oakland.
So, um, you know, we, uh, you know, we're with you. So, um, that, that would be a reason that we would, it, me personally and my family would like to, uh, always be in supportive, um, businesses that we have aligned values around.
So, so what you do, That's great. That's great. I got excited with that. I'm so sorry. Um, and cause that's what we, you know, our, our, because we are, I mean, we're remote when some of us are not necessarily in Oakland, but we have ties to Oakland.
Some of us were raised milk or some of us lived in Oakland are our organizations and open plan. We work with open children and youth and families.
So, you know, our, our desire is to always work with local companies, um, especially people of color. Um, so, um, thank you for sharing that personal bit, um, for, with us because they, you know, that, you know, that puts you a little bit.
Yeah, it's important. Yeah, because I mean, these days we're so easily like spending all our money at Amazon and, you know, like just, we're so disconnected from like our own communities.
You know, my wife and I grew up here, um, you know, I'm from Montclair, my wife grew up grass valley behind the zoo.
We met in high school and St. Mary's in Berkeley and, uh, you know, three kids and we, you know, just by the skin of our teeth, I mean, I'm in technology, but I'm not because I'm not like some programmer in the city.
You know, I have friends that went in, went in the programming route and they, you know, they're like, you know, gobs of money, you know, forever and ever, and they're never hurting for anything.
And it's like my wife and I, she's in HR at a nonprofit in Berkeley. And we, uh, you know, just, we, we were living the Oakland life.
Like we're not leaving here. This is our place. And we barely got our house and barely, you know, it's like, we're just like, we have a very common, you know, um, Oakland story.
So, uh, you know, we, uh, yeah, so we, we really want to align ourselves with the right people and, um, you know, that kind of thing, so, Well, that's great.
You should, um, add, get yourself added to our list because our, our coworkers do, um, well, we just had our first one in July, but they hold a black parent gathering.
Um, and it's going to be at different places. It was at the lake, um, last month and it was, there was some multiracial couples, their families there, which I thought was great.
And then, you know, they all sat and gathered and discussed the desires of what they, you guys want as parents, you know, for your children in Oakland.
And, um, so, you know, outside of us, you know, trying to build, uh, you know, business relationship, um, take a look at your family.
The, um, yeah, because our, our, our organizing team, they're, you know, they're hitting the ground running, especially now with all this going on with, um, oh, USD.
So I'm, you know, we're, we're new, but we're proud to, um, be a part of this group, You know, we're in an impact at school.
So we are definitely invested in that fight directly and actually the, uh, superintendent, uh, not superintendent, but the, uh, the head of the board, Gary, ye he was the principal at Hillcrest when I went there.
And so like, I've known him my whole life and it's just, I don't know, we could get into all that, but the, you know, it's very frustrating and disheartening about, you know, the underlying politics of everything and, you know, the sort of gaslighting about what's going on and what they're actually trying to do.
Um, so, Oh, the children are all suffering, you know, their school is suffering. Yeah. They're just ripping communities apart. Like, so, so yeah, we're, we're, we're there, we're, we're wanting to, um, engage in these, in these fights as much as possible.
That's great. That's great, Matt, thank you so very much for, for this. I'm going to type up the notes that I have and share with Doug and our bosses.
And, um, I'm sure you'll be hearing from us again. So let me know if you need anything happy to hop on any other calls or answer any questions you have.
Okay. Guys, stay cool. Thank You. Alright. Bye-bye bye-bye.