Transcript: Gary Sheng, Beef Jones, and Justin Cunningham

Date: 2025-05-05

Participants

• Gary Sheng (GS)
• Beef Jones (BJ)
• Justin Cunningham (JC)

Context

Brainstorming session for the Alpha Summer 2025 program, focusing on structure, philosophy, talent, timeline, and media strategy. Gary proposes Justin Cunningham lead the program.

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[Gary Sheng] Time off. And, you know, whatever. So it is the official start of the of the new school year. Right. So it's the end of summer. Right. It's it feels like a good target point. Now to reverse engineer or reverse build this thing. Starting back from there. So it's now it's now the August, early September. Right? We got vendors. We got sponsors. We got location. We got logistics. We got talent confirmed. Okay. So what does that look like? So in my thing, it's like, yeah, that weekend is a four day weekend. Should we take the whole four days, or should we make two days? You know?

[Beef Jones] Four days is aggressive.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. It's if we go to, like let's say, each night ends at 09:00. Realistically. I think I got two days from all of this. Two days. Just, like, pack it up. Yeah. Pack it out. Pack it out. So, basically, split. The two days and two chapters. So there's a beginning in the morning. So we wanna stimulate brain activity. Really got a second warning. Like, Patchy. So, like, early morning development, clear focus, education, towards leisurely stuff, recreational stuff towards the end of day. Commended with an end of day concert

[Beef Jones] I think that'd be cool. Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] So and by the way, when you say educational, let me just make sure that I communicate principal. No lectures. Zero lectures. What what for that that festival, it's really just I think more than anything, it's safe flex of power. Like we don't wanna replicate any sort of bullshit con model. Where, like, the education really wanna emphasize, thing that I wanna push. Is a pre

[Beef Jones] Mhmm.

[Gary Sheng] I want basically a sharing out of just how much the kids grew. The kids should be presenting with how they grew. Over the course of the summer the 20 kids.

[Beef Jones] Mhmm.

[Gary Sheng] 15 kids, whatever it is. Is. Right? And and and there should be, like, strategic speeches of, like, full fuck. I did not like, this is totally the future of education. Don't have to a version of her supper is way better because gonna be a beginning There's gonna be a comparison of where the kid was. Initially. And where the cue was at. And it's like, literally the summer is one third of the length of the school year. Right? So

[Beef Jones] Right.

[Gary Sheng] Then the parents parents that are watching are like, well fuck. If this can happen in three months, then what can happen in nine months? Right. You know? So there's no lectures Nothing like, oh, oh, oh, here's how to build a business. No. Fuck that. Right. No. It's literally the only thing that needs to be going through the heads of attending is like This is this is awesome because right now, I see it as like, the students need to lead. And then whoever is there, the adviser or the the whatever boldface name, personality is there, just to act. As an extension of that presentation but doesn't lead it.

[Beef Jones] Yeah. The kids have to lead But we need the buckets. Need to understand like the buckets. Or the like the disciplines, like, you know, the areas of Yes. Yes. So Yeah. So so so first of all, how do you think we should I think it starts with really fucking no kids. Because we our networks are so crazy. We can find the right mentor. Right? Especially if we're if we're basically, like, we'll literally cover a all your room and food. For the whole summer.

[Gary Sheng] Venture?

[Beef Jones] Mhmm. And give you like a stipend. Right?

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. I mean, that that's that's whatever just have to get it down. Because right now, I identify 10 secondtors or the apprentice model. Module. Sorry. Apprentice module. So it's sector one, gaming, creator economy. Oh, yeah. Fashion, digital identity, health and mental mental environmental innovation, unschooling, ed tech features. Hey. Hey. By the way, you mind if I just quickly you know, you and I chat with Justin real quick?

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] Gen z finance and tokenomics, AI and and creative computing. Computing. Storytelling, transmedia, and identity and impact activation Those are the that hold hold on. I want I want you to to fill in I want us to have Justin Cunningham right here. On the call. So okay. Yeah. The the the Yurmur beef Did you ever eat beef?

[Justin Cunningham] What? Generally? What else? You doing? Where you at?

[Gary Sheng] I'm in Chicago.

[Justin Cunningham] Oh, man. We gotta talk. Lots of stuff going on in Chicago right now. There's lots of happening in Chicago and I wanna recruit you to for something. So basically, I've been asked what is the best way to inspire parents to sign up to it in Alpha Right? In my view, okay, there's the reality is the model needs to to be more apprenticeship. And the customer acquisition cost, the applicant I acquisition was very high. Too high. And another there's a bunch of context, including the fact that the school building will be open whole summer. So I was like, okay. How do you basically fit a huge funnel by the end of the summer? Of parents that wanna sign up to health school, including the one in alpha Alright. And basically, I was like, okay. We need a a a some kind of summer activities. That allow for a delta change of, like, the child was here, at the June. And by the time it was end of of August or whatever, whenever whenever, makes sense. They're in a completely different place.

[Beef Jones] And when you say completely different place, Well, I I'd sort of identify because when we Gary and I talk, he's, like, talking about the apprentice model. Right? Using apprentice. You know, about apprenticeship, not any stale, like, lectures or, like, panels stuff. Kids don't give a fuck about none of that. You know what I'm saying? But these are the 10 different sectors underneath these apprentice modules, and it's gaming, creator economy, fashion, health and mental optimization, environmental, EdTech, Gen Z finance, AI, creative computing, storytelling, and, identity and impact activate activist So I feel like if those are the 10 categories and and this is based off all the research I pulled from all the models about, like, what the future of Gen Alpha is. And what's the economies that they're gonna tapped into. So these are the top 10 economies that be where the next generation will grow from. They will grow all their businesses from these top 10 sectors. So knowing that the Alpha School and just about a sample of kids that I met, like, there I met one fashion. I met a few in EdTech, I met a few in creative computing. I met met a few in transmedia storytelling. I met one in activism. So maybe we should just spotlight those different sectors and spotlight the students in that has projects in there, and then we can attach sort of, like so an environmentalist like, you know, that has some, popular, that has a popular viewpoint that everybody follows through. You go to health and mental wealth. Right? So you got people that are or somebody in that field is out front facing, that somebody can come support whatever the child is doing. You understand? So if there's a kid that's baking a game, then we get, like, you know, you know, I don't know. The Hezbo from Death Stranding to come down. You know? The the creator of Death Stranding. You know, to come and do a lecture.

[Gary Sheng] He was here to No. So I I have a different model. I don't think that most kids have any idea of what product shouldn't be doing. Doing. They should just be apprenticing under getting randoms.

[Justin Cunningham] And we're talking about getting random Enrolled in

[Gary Sheng] But what you wanna see, like, If I don't know what I'm going to do, right, if I don't know what the future is for me, and I'm going to this event that has all this cool stuff that I'm interacting with, but there's different different disciplines that I can say, hey. Oh, I'm interested in gaming because there's a gaming setup over here. And then there's somebody like, well, you could be

[Justin Cunningham] Yeah. Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] So so so that's so that's how the summer ends. Let let me let me just let's take a step back. I I wanna challenge you just said. Remix a little little bit. I think that the the current model is bullshit. Right? Current Alpha School masterpiece model is bullshit. Because most kids have no idea what's actually useful to it at. To add value to identity. I'm just gonna be blunt. Right? They're creating bullshit Like apps that are creating bullshit. Fashion lines. Are not actually moving the needle in fashion. Right? Should be apprenticing Like, if you wanna learn how to create you know, a social impact movement, you apprentice under Justin Cunningham. If you wanna learn how to create music videos you you literally apprentice under beef as he's doing the next you know, ASAP Rocky video. Right? Like, literally, like, don't give a fuck what these kids think. Right? They they they need to just have a direction of, like, time kinds of things that they're interested in.

[Beef Jones] Mhmm.

[Gary Sheng] And literally just literally follow the fucking person around Take notes. Share reflections, through through video, through essays, etcetera. Should just be constantly learning and adding value however they can. And just being my full fuck. Like, this is there's so much that's happening here. Like because the person on this in this particular discipline whether it's gaming, fashion, etcetera, is so on the edge that, like, they're constantly discovering new shit all the time. And, like, pioneering a whole new path. It's totally not about you know, them picking some bullshit thing. Do you do you understand me?

[Beef Jones] Right. Right. I'm not I'm not endorsed mad at all, by the way.

[Gary Sheng] No. No. You wanna propose that, I'm fucking

[Beef Jones] No. No. I'm endorsed

[Gary Sheng] No. No. You're totally right. I just know nothing

[Beef Jones] I think that you're right. It should be somewhat of note. Like if it's fashion, it needs to be somebody in fashion avant garde that has dipped yo, let's fly fucking Rick Owen in. Or fucking

[Gary Sheng] No. No. No. It it okay. And when you say fly in, I'm not saying they're coming for a day. I'm saying they're staying the whole summer. That's what I'm saying.

[Beef Jones] Okay.

[Gary Sheng] I I wanna be very clear, Beef. And that's what I'm asking Justin to do. I'm telling Justin what do you need to be the guy running the camp? That's why I wanted to call Justin. Because there's no one in the world better than Justin at doing this kind of shit. And so literally and, Justin, what you gotta know is that one of Joe's like, principles as a leader is pay people generously. To work on whatever you wanna work on. Right? Like, it's not like, oh, we'll match it. It's like, no. We'll fucking double whatever the fuck you're currently paying yourself. Right? Even if it's just like we get you for a summer. Right? And and where that goes afterwards Justin, is you building enough trust with the Alpha ecosystem that then you are the person that we want to give millions of dollars of budget to to start that school in Chicago. And so what I what I'm realizing Justin, is, like, everything is about trust and sequence. Right? So you build trust, with ultimately what is, like, one giant three month experiment. Where it's like, dang. Justin is, like, the guy. Right? Like let's now next thing is, like, give him $1,020,000,000 dollars to fucking start the best I don't know. I'm just I'm just making a dumb number. Right? Yeah. To to to to start this school with pastor Brooks or whatever, or whatever you think makes sense. So that we can open up that school in the fall of twenty twenty six. Right?

[Justin Cunningham] And Lisa, what was that number again? 2020. 2026.

[Gary Sheng] 2026. Right? So the the the

[Justin Cunningham] Gotcha.

[Gary Sheng] The the sequencing would be build a ton of trust this summer and then get approval for a essentially you know, twelve month road map But, really, like, it's like a nine month road map after the summer. To then launch the application process let's say, around you know, June, July of twenty twenty six, then get a bunch of applicants select them, for the Chicago School Let's say it's let's say it's even just 20, 30 kids, 40 kids. Right, for for the pilot year. Of fall twenty twenty six. So but, again, I think the only way

[Justin Cunningham] Gotcha.

[Gary Sheng] Like, I I wouldn't trust someone and Joe should not trust Like, basically, Justin Joe has basically delegated the vetting of people to me.

[Justin Cunningham] And

[Gary Sheng] Mhmm.

[Justin Cunningham] And the vetting process is not, oh, does Gary like to hang out with them as a friend? It's like, literally, no. You prove yourself through doing a project. And then you do bigger and bigger projects. And so Yeah. I wanted to call you ASAP because you are my number number one choice. To run the summer camp. And then the questions becomes, you're following the logic? Mhmm. Beef?

[Beef Jones] The logic then becomes, do you wanna get paid? And then we can go from there. Of me of me putting your what you wanna get paid into the proposal. Where I can get that to Joe as soon as possible. I literally want to get Joe a proposal by the end the week of, like, how much this summer camp gonna cost. Who's gonna run it, all that stuff. And so yeah, that's why I wanted to call you at the very beginning of this week. So you can, like you know, talk to your do you have a wife, or do you have a girlfriend? Say you know,

[Justin Cunningham] No. No. No. No. No. No. Not Chicago. Not Chicago. Austin.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, they rent a sour can.

[Justin Cunningham] Ecosystem, Yes. In the end, of fast Yes. Yes. Yes. Displayed to the larger general audience.

[Gary Sheng] Yes. Well said. So, basically, basically, August, middle I don't know when the exact we'll figure that out, right, together. If you're interested. If you're not interested, we'll figure I'll figure out with someone else. Right? But, literally, like, you know we are willing to pay for the best talent, and I think you're the best. So like, ultimately, everything about alpha needs to be about the goat. Literally, we need to assemble the goats to create the GOTUS program, the GOTUS schools. To ultimately produce goats. Reliably. Right, in every sector. Right? And that starts today. Right? It starts today with recruiting. The best people in the world. And getting the like, literally, Lial Alexander is down to to work four days out of the week in Austin And then go back on Thursday the weekend to hang out with his kids. Right? Like, in Tulsa. Like, so basically, I was setting the the bar where, like, in this early basically, trial phase for everyone, including myself, We have to be in Austin We have to be known we have to have to make yourself a known quantity. Because once you prove yourself, you'll get bigger and bigger budgets, and then your funding issues become completely gone. Like, I promise you, like, so Joe and his Joe's Joe's, like, the the founder of Alpha Schools. Met with a 50 billionaires. Over the past two years. So, like, everything is trust. Everything is track record. And, like, I wanna basically position all of my friends that they're not my friends for accident. I only wanna hang out with the goats. So it's not like, oh, nepotism. It's like, no. It's it's goatism. Right? Like, literally, I want to position my goat friends who I believe in to prove that they're goats. So that they can get goat status money more and more and more and and more and and more. Right? So

[Beef Jones] And that's the difference. That's the difference because you give everything.

[Gary Sheng] Alright. I'm I'm I'm I'm there's there's a thing in my brain that that serves as sort of like that's like, the big pushback.

[Beef Jones] Like Yeah. Actually, I know this. August. We we don't have to even if this was November, have no time. We have to do it now. Talking about creating programming, leading up, You want people. You want

[Gary Sheng] Wait. Wait. Wait. What's your pushback?

[Beef Jones] We want apprentices. We want the apprenticeship to be over the summer. You want it to basically culminate into a, like, sort of like a a a presentation of this whole thing. But there has to be a lead up, which means that basically, what I'm envisioning to make this make sense is that there's going to have to be sort of, like, a month long focus where these advisers and and you know, expert in their fields would come in for that period and then it would have to be a program with certain students that then you could find at the end of this program, at the end of the summer, then to present this great thing that could have all the festivities around it and everything, the presentation, what the kids done. In the specialized field. Let's just say fashion. We we we spotlight I know kid super. Right? I know Ronnie Fee. I could probably get one of those guys to be able to say, hey. Wipe your calendar for three weeks.

[Gary Sheng] Yes.

[Beef Jones] Right? And it starts here and ends here. Right? I need you to take this group of students, maybe two or three or four or five or 10 We'll find them.

[Gary Sheng] Why don't why don't we like, look at this. You know, the the demographics, that.

[Beef Jones] Yeah. So just need to have a guardrail.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. So so wants to immigrations. Well, that's why I'm calling you like, literally yesterday, like, I basically got the the prop that, like, Joe's pretty much happy with the direction of my thinking. And and so, and he basically was like, this all looks good. Just make sure that you know, you are taking deep ownership of the funnel and reducing the the student acquisition cost. I'm like, bet bet. Enough to like, say last And that and that's good because at the end of the day, in order to get that number down, you do have to create a spectacle. So this is going to be expensive

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] Because we have to have we have to have a shotgun approach.

[Beef Jones] No, no. Don't don't even don't even call an expensive. Do you know how much do you know how many do know how many marketing people they have on their team on their weekly sync? 52 people. And they all they don't do shit. Trust me. They don't do shit. They don't do shit. They have dude, they they have 10,000 followers on their Instagram. They have, like, 20 likes on they they post three times a week. They have 20 likes on the do this it's fucking terrible. Right? And so so so don't I want you to wipe I know. This is I want to say, I want you to wipe a away the the idea of expensive from your because it's literally we are creating ridiculous cost efficiency. Right? Especially if we have beef. Capturing fucking every I don't I mean, I'm saying it's you have to be but it's, not like, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna redirect the guys I've been engaging for the reality show to be like, we're gonna capture this whole fucking summer every bit Beef will help advise on figuring out what to capture. Right? And then, like, and so this whatever expense of the summer program is we are going to memorialize it forever and turn that into artifacts forever. Right? Every every aspect of the of the two day showcase Mhmm. Is going to be fucking every part of it's gonna be filmed. Every part of it will be

[Beef Jones] I thought about that. I thought about that that also grows. Like, the whole thing about getting down a cat You know I'm saying? And getting that funnel cost down. Would have to be that everybody that we invite to this, every student, every parent, every adviser, every boldface name, has to be a part of the storytelling. It has to be mandatory that they post something. Because that they all have different networks. So in order for us to get that cost down, we have to, you know, we we we have to basically empower UGC. So we have to have a UGC strategy on top of this.

[Gary Sheng] For sure.

[Beef Jones] You know? So we have to create a whole ecosystem, a whole tsunami of content. User generated content.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. So everybody's a user on the planet no matter what. So UGC is just

[Beef Jones] Well well, so so so every every, like, let's call them fellows or whatever. Every fellow. Every fellow. Let's let's say there's 10. Let's say there's 15. I don't know. Right? That each have a a master that they apprentice under. Right? Mhmm. Those fucking those kids better be posting content all the goddamn time.

[Gary Sheng] Yes.

[Beef Jones] Because, like, of how we're gonna find the most interesting masters that are working on the most interesting shit you're not posting your like literally, you were never a good fit. Right? And so to be an apprentice. Anyways There's a there's a model that already exists. That we are going to jack and that I I've worked with this model for five years straight. Let me say exactly. Red Bull Music Academy. Red Bull used apprentice model would fly in They would we went to Madrid one year. We built a recording studio, and then we took over for two weeks We had Nala Rogers one week, and we had Erykah Badu the next week. Those that week, Rogers had to be an apprentice. I mean, he had all these other so they invite all these students from around the world. He master He's the master, but that whole week he's there. He's teaching classes. He's in and out of the recording sessions. He's in there with producers giving him ideas. And then he gives a he sits down with a with a with a moderator, has a one on one discussion with the moderator for only 10 people in the room. I did MF Doom Erykah Badu, okay, that was it forgot that group. But a bunch of them. So you take this person who has all this knowledge. You send them in an environment. You know we had a private chef. Every day cooking nutritional meals We all ate together. So we ate with like Erykah Badu.

[Gary Sheng] So good.

[Beef Jones] Imagine these students sitting with, like, you know, whoever. Bold faced name. And then imparting these ideas to them in a casual room. Casual feeling. And that could be the lead up And then what happened at Red Bull Music Academy is that after that week of

[Gary Sheng] I was just saying how basically he said, let's just use Nile Rogers as an example.

[Beef Jones] Nile Rogers spent the whole week They invited a bunch of musicians. So they invited 20 musicians to come into the city. Right? They build a recording studio. They have, like, this this space where they have different little pods and rooms and meeting rooms and they have a schedule of events and stuff. And you know, it's open, so we'll have, like, a discussion You know, now Raj will sit and talk for, like, an hour or two about whatever. Then we'll wrap, go eat lunch. He'll eat with us. You know? And it's like that the whole time he's there. He's always around. So there'll be a there'll be a young producer in the studio making a beat, and now I'll just walk in. And be like, hey. What are you working on? And it's just it's just but it's like that the whole week. And then at the end of the week, there's a concert produced by Now Roger. You know what I'm saying? Or the concert pro you know, the concert Erykah Badu at the end of it, and the students they'll they'll people that, you know, the fellows that were invited to the Red Bull Music Academy were the VIPs of that con and then the regular city could come and just enjoy And that's what the city gets to be a part of it. You know? With the aftermath of what happened that week, And then the students are there seeing it come to life, or the fellows Right? And it creates a whole environment. It though, it's becomes bigger than just oh, you're just going to Austin.

[Gary Sheng] Fellows, what were the requirements for the fellows?

[Beef Jones] So so so so no. There was there was there was people who just there's been friends or family, people who knew people, that had social media files, whether they were popular or not, they were different verbs. It doesn't matter. They were just talented. Yeah. Somebody found the talent.

[Gary Sheng] Right. Right. And and But are the what how does that correspond to this fellows here? Like, what are the

[Beef Jones] I think that they should all be in high school age.

[Gary Sheng] Yes.

[Beef Jones] First of all. I think that also

[Gary Sheng] 16 to 18.

[Beef Jones] And and they also they all have to be very okay being filmed all the time.

[Gary Sheng] Mhmm.

[Beef Jones] As well and I think let's say, half of them can be current alpha high students. And then the other half is just exceptional high schoolers from around Texas. Yeah. Let's just say Central Texas.

[Gary Sheng] And, like, that's all the people that could enroll right away instead of boom.

[Beef Jones] So so yeah, just, you know, exceptional Central Texas. Because if you have that model, of that Kent model, where you can basically go, okay. This two week lead up Right? Based on a discipline, right? So, you have music, you have fashion, you have sports, whatever it is, Kids that wanna build complicated AI models, kids that wanna be streamers, you bring Kaisenat, whatever. And so you have that. So maybe we don't do all 10 right, we start with a few, because, you know, we do have to ramp it up. You know?

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. So so so so you know what I think? Being at the at the being making a creative house. Where the where you get expertise from from your

[Beef Jones] Right.

[Gary Sheng] We take over a place and we

[Beef Jones] No. No. So so we take over two places. Because we have a girl house and a guy house.

[Gary Sheng] Mhmm.

[Beef Jones] And so it's like imagine it's like seven kids each. Huge Airbnb for both. I don't know. Like, we'll figure out the logistics, but, like,

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. And it could be and and by the way, like, we are we have a partnership I'm about to need this, like, sexy head of student life. Of this local university. That could give us dorms. And I'm also gonna just rinse her up as well. But but but also as a separate conversation, but, like, I dude. The way that I met her, I I intended this billionaire fireside chat, and I called them out. Because he was like, Democrats will never be for school trips. I'm like, I disagree. I just literally, like, steps it up and said, disagree. And then this woman was like, I'm like, what you said. And I was like, was like, who are you? Who are you? Okay. Okay. But Riz King but, basically, I I I do think that, like, the benefit of, like, them having separate dorms is that it addresses some of the issues of like, you know, parents being like, oh, no. They're gonna you know, have sex. With each other and shit. And also but it's also good because then you can get into the you can run things at those private dorms that focus on mental health. Gender specific.

[Beef Jones] Gender specific, sex

[Gary Sheng] I mean, I don't really wanna go there because that's a slippery slope, but sex.

[Beef Jones] Mints her anger.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, no. I mean I mean We don't have to say anything.

[Beef Jones] put it there's not intervening. Right?

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. No. No. No. I'm talking about with with with when they're in their separate dorms, then you can have, like, a mentor or somebody address certain personal issues that assist young boys and young girls.

[Beef Jones] Same same same Yeah. Your Yeah. Because that's that's you know, be honest with you, a lot of times, the kids need people to talk to about these issues They don't have them. So maybe you could take the mental health portion and maybe make a module that's in that You know, where it's like a morning breakfast sit down discussion.

[Gary Sheng] Absolutely. You know? My friends Marcus and Ariel will be great for

[Beef Jones] Yes. Or spirituality. Know, when you talk about facts.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. But then so it's not so public, and it's sort of intimate and you can have discussions and you can bring somebody to people that can leave and yeah.

[Beef Jones] That's it. Again, like what Gary was saying, that's where that trust, that's where the

[Gary Sheng] That's so Justin the way that you sell this school model is not is not the software. Because the software is just getting the common core shit out of the way. So we can literally do the more interesting stuff. And do you understand what the summer is? The summer is literally Alpha School's strengths magnified because it's all about the humans. It's all about the apprenticeships. It's all about the environment that's in inspiring. Without the common core bullshit and without APs. Right? So literally, this is like the best marketing fucking funnel activation shit. Ever. Because the kids are gonna be flow state the whole time.

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] Whole time. So, yes. We're I do think that I do think that that, of course, this is a for sure looking this, literally behind the seventeenth of the world. basic. Really test them

[Beef Jones] I also I think that's great because the software does I mean, AI will meet them where they're at and help them get to where they need to go. But they also need to be inspired.

[Gary Sheng] And what what I would like to see I would like to see half of the alpha students basically embrace students who are not Alpha students and encourage them to hey. You know, you might wanna talk to your I think you will be a great alpha student. Imagine an alpha student seeing a kid from a public school that's divided to this because they're bright. And and builds and they built, like, community. It like, you know, build a relationship, a bond. Through this week. You know? Where that kid, even though he doesn't go to alpha, but you got the Alpha kitchen. Champion that person. That's what I wanna see. I wanna see these quote unquote privileged kids from Alpha basically, open their arms and their minds and their hearts to kids outside of that.

[Beef Jones] Yeah. For sure.

[Gary Sheng] And so you also said something really touchy right there.

[Beef Jones] Correct? Yep. Alright. Figure out what are the popular sectors that would have the most you know, that because we it's it's small marketing too. Right? So we look at the popular sectors that have the most reach and the most, like, familiarity of amongst the wider population?

[Gary Sheng] I mean, we're we're we're meeting the Gen Zers and alphas where they where they are at. They care about fashion sports. Gaming, etcetera. Right?

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] So like, you know, like, this is this is just from from McKinsey reports and something like that. Right? So can we can what what what I think what what we could do is basically pick like, seven categories and have two kids in each. And, like, what Joe loves and which I love as well, is basically having you know, always having like, two will Joe will literally fund two teams doing same thing just so they compete compete with each other.

[Beef Jones] And and so that's what I'm saying. If there's 14 kids, let's just just pick seven categories and have two kids in each.

[Gary Sheng] Each. Right?

[Beef Jones] And that makes sense. Right? So Yeah. That's alright. That's awesome. That's awesome.

[Gary Sheng] And and how long do you want Well, look. I I think what we basically want is to pick kids that treat this as a miracle. That that they're able to have this opportunity to apprentice under someone, like, basically, someone that is their hero or could be their hero based on who they are. And so but I think practically speaking, it can be, like, nine. To six. Right? Like, nine nine nine to six. And then you know, some kids will just work more because the their apprentice their masters working more and inspiring them. Right? But and in terms of, like, what I think the length could be, I think six weeks might be good. Like, imagine, like, the selection process happening over course of the next month. And then for the kids, and also just helping us designing the whole program itself. And then getting all the pieces in play. And then some point, basically, midsummer, is, like, the six weeks and then it culminates. Maybe there's a a week. Where just, the capstone. Week. Right? And Yeah. Then we end by you know, second week of August or so. Like that. Right? So you can imagine starting in July and ending

[Beef Jones] No. I think I think we should definitely end whatever we have, we have to end it before the school year starts.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. For sure. That's to give us a little deadline

[Beef Jones] We should have our celebration that weekend. It should end the weekend of Labor Day.

[Gary Sheng] Well, so Because that is a four day weekend.

[Beef Jones] Not enough. Not enough.

[Gary Sheng] We should actually end should have the whole thing done before the deadline to enroll in our school. Is that?

[Beef Jones] Don't know what that is, but we have to figure that out.

[Gary Sheng] But, like, I'll if that that's the case, like, if it's anywhere close to regular schools, then that's, like, early August.

[Beef Jones] Yeah. So I think that we started the program in mid June. And then ended early June.

[Gary Sheng] June. It's June right now. Have you did this June? I believe. Right now. It's already May.

[Beef Jones] Yes. Okay. Well, that's not

[Gary Sheng] By the time that week is over, it'd be

[Beef Jones] That's mid May.

[Gary Sheng] That's literally not a problem with how fast we move.

[Beef Jones] Oh, I'm just letting you know, I know how to I can move fast. I'm just know, like, we have to start now. Okay. So whatever we finalize, we have to to say, Yo, we're finalizing this. We can't wait till Friday. We have to finalize this by Wednesday. We have to push something by Wednesday to be able to beat this.

[Gary Sheng] Well, well Because

[Beef Jones] Well, why do you think I'm calling Justin first thing this fucking morning? Right? Why do you think I'm here at 08:30 in the morning?

[Beef Jones] You came here 07:30.

[Gary Sheng] 07:30. I was actually around the corner at 06:45. Yeah. I left my house. My wife was mad. So so my sequencing is literally I'm about to meet the head of the high school school. At 10AM. To talk about this. Like, that's that's the the pace that

[Beef Jones] Yes.

[Gary Sheng] I'm moving.

[Beef Jones] No. No. I'm not saying that you're not. I'm just I'm just saying you don't need to say things that are obvious. So

[Gary Sheng] So so so from from basically mid June, if we about six weeks, mid June to August is six weeks. I think that's they that's that's pretty solid. So, like, basically, we can select the kids by the June. And then what what we'll also literally have to have selected I mean, we even want think we wanna select the kids in two weeks from now. Like, literally, two weeks from now, I wanna have to select the kids. And then from there, actually, no. I mean, we should literally have selected all the mentors and the kids in the next two days.

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] And then and then so we can pivot. We can hit the ground running. With starting to film the pre the like, I want I want us to be filming the planning process as well. Right? I want the whole story from beginning to end. To be filmed including the behind the scenes stuff, including the Big Brother houses.

[Beef Jones] Yeah.

[Gary Sheng] And I want, you know, to get Justin retained ASAP. So that we can then and then we can get, like, a Well, you you you're the guy. So just just make it happen.

[Justin Cunningham] Well, I am. So

[Gary Sheng] so, literally, I want Justin to be in person here ASAP as well. We can start cooking. We can start cooking in person. So I guess the action item on your end, Justin, is literally, like, how much you want? How much do you wanna make it, and then we'll we'll go from there.

[Justin Cunningham] Justin, can we book you a ticket to get there this this week? Yeah. Basically, like, I would yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We can't In order for this to happen, you need to be here. Like, Wednesday. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Wednesday, the only this this weekend is is Mother's Day. So

[Gary Sheng] No. You can come back. I mean, but, like, think about it. Just like, Wednesday, through Saturday morning. Yeah. And then go Sunday for Mother's Day. Because, yeah, Sunday, I got heavy

[Justin Cunningham] few day trip? And then, like,

[Gary Sheng] And then we could just like whiteboard it out and you know, because if we're going, we're going now. Yeah. And it's also Justin, it's a symbol. Of your conviction as well. Right? And and so that's I think Joe loves seeing that shit. So thank you for taking this call. I'm gonna I've I've been recording this so I can turn this into a write up really quick. And folks, go

[Justin Cunningham] Yes. Send me that send me that write up.

[Beef Jones] Looks cool. But like I'm just saying your spot, dude, You know what I'm saying? Just have them. Just be like, okay. This is the least favorite. Send me those. For me that that made it a little bit of a of a reach for me was the the actual programming of it. But if you have that and plug and play into it, then everything else is easy. Everything else

[Gary Sheng] I mean, the like so really, all that I need Justin to focus on is, like, how do we make fun activity? Activities? Like, because the Okay. Because the the the master and apprentice shit, is just the kid like, I I will design that. Right? I will make it so that the kid is knowledge sharing all the time, blah blah blah. Like, that's more of, like, the the learning and know, boring And that's not boring. It's, like, it's more learning part. What I want Justin to do is, like, do the let's do the open mic stuff. Let's do the whatever whatever it is. That you've proven you're an expert in creating fun activities that are nurturing. Right? And and and

[Justin Cunningham] Gotcha.

[Gary Sheng] And being the you're basically the you're bit I basically want you to be as is the cruise director. Imagine it's like a like a six week cruise. Six to seven week cruise. I want you to be the cruise director that's hiking the kids up getting them excited as hell, about this whole thing.

[Justin Cunningham] Yeah.

[Beef Jones] And you're Isaac from the love boat. The love boat is a cruise ship with a little bitchy guy. Isaac was the the, you know, the best He does the only black guy, but he had the cool shit.

[Gary Sheng] Where the students I think you got thirteen hours a day. You got six and six. You break up the day, they're kids. So you got the morning, got the afternoon, you know what I'm saying? And then you have, like, your standard lunch break in between. You have to give them that. But that's how you segment your day. So that you have, like, two parts of the day, and you know you gotta end it by, like, 08:00.

[Beef Jones] So eight to eight me you say eight to eight hours.

[Gary Sheng] Eight to eight.

[Beef Jones] Because you know, we're looking at younger children. The young you know, so their minds are most malleable during the mornings. You know, the focus is there. So It's hard hitting topics and stuff like that.

[Gary Sheng] It is. Because then like the dinner can be like 30, and they could they could eat together, talk about what they learned that they And and then whoever the who the fellows and whoever's invited or, like, the adviser or the mentor, they want they're with us the whole time. They eat with us. There's no crazy riders. These are not difficult people. You know, these are people that want to impart their knowledge on you.

[Beef Jones] That's it. That's the three weapons. And if they don't, they may not invite you.

[Gary Sheng] Yes.

[Beef Jones] Got it.

[Gary Sheng] Right? Hell, yeah. Actually, this is actually easy now. I need to get what I can

[Beef Jones] Yeah. I mean, whenever you're ready to book I'll just give you my card, and you can book. I recall my same job. You're good. It'll be easy. Like, I have I have multiple blocks. Have a couch. I have multiple blocks. Mattresses. And I also have a separate Airbnb that also has a couch. I mean, we'll figure it out. But Alright. Cool.

[Gary Sheng] Alright. We'll talk to you on the phone.

[Beef Jones] Alright. Thanks, Justin.

[Gary Sheng] Yeah.

[Beef Jones] Now now having Dan resonate call see if can get Yarra's Rashidi. Yara Shavidi to come here. Yeah. And to speak. Because she's on the activism social impact wave. And that's somebody I know who will sit for Get up with your kids.

[Gary Sheng] Do you know if she do you know if she could even be just down to be in Austin? For, like

[Beef Jones] That's what I meant.

[Gary Sheng] For three months.

[Beef Jones] No. No. Sorry. Sorry. So so sorry. Not not for For a month? Yeah. No. No. Like, a month? A month. Four four zero As a weeks. As as a master. Yes. As a master. That's what it And we just need to figure out our price, and we know that Joe will pay the right price. We can justify it.

[Gary Sheng] No. No. No. Like, I I I didn't know. I I why I'm gonna have a con conversation with with CA today. See because they're rep her, and I know that that's part of her thing. So I'm a just talk to CA about, like, you know, so all these find out what parts we are, then we can go after We have so I have a my weekly 4PM staff meeting with Joe. I want to basically get full alignment from the alpha team You get me. Some dope celebrities I can literally name right now. At the 4PM meeting, Work. Just get get that shit done. Figure out, like, you know, like know like, let's get, like, two, three names like, real celebrities.

[Beef Jones] I got that are down. For the for a reasonable price. End of it, we have a whole presentation with doctor Lyle on then Doctor. Alexander. Yeah. He's

[Gary Sheng] Yeah. This is amazing. Yeah.

[Beef Jones] Of the tracks, by way, is school creation. So Lael will get an apprentice to help him Build the school. Fucking out the school.

[Gary Sheng] Yes. Yes. You know what? The people we invite as fellows are the ones that are building schools. You are also fucking master. Right? You will get an apprentice. Let's make it fucking easy, dude. And then fucking

[Beef Jones] look could get into prep. because that's she was like you called her one day, and you were on the phone with her for, like, an hour. And I was right there the whole time and I wasn't really listening and stuff like that. I like kept going in and out of the room and she was gonna phone with you. And I was like, Oh, man, you're building real, like, real bond and trust with Gary. You know what I'm saying? She was like, I just I just wanna make sure that I can help guide him where he needs. I'm here for him.

[Gary Sheng] Well, so I'm trialing out the Victoria's seat immersive experience. Lead. But I also need multiple people that do that shit. As well.

[Beef Jones] Okay. So

[Gary Sheng] No. I'm just saying, like, like, a you know?

[Beef Jones] Well executive assistant Eric? Type of shit. Is that Chief of staff. You're not even Chief of Staff's a little bit higher up, but, like, because they deal with a bunch of issues, but I guess

[Gary Sheng] Well, what is her superpower?

[Beef Jones] Logistics.

[Gary Sheng] So okay. But not just events.

[Beef Jones] No. All of it. All logistics.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, okay.

[Beef Jones] I'm gonna put it like this. Like, when I was at Vice, I was like, I'm booking, like, 15 people cruise. I'm like, Yo, book all that shit. Make sure I don't wanna hear that.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, okay. Well, look, I'm down. Yeah. I'm down for that.

[Beef Jones] Yeah. Like, him flying in

[Gary Sheng] I see.

[Beef Jones] Way over here taking care of it.

[Gary Sheng] I see. I see.

[Beef Jones] Take care of it.

[Gary Sheng] I see. I see. See.

[Beef Jones] Put them all pull She booked us a fucking private plane.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, okay. Alright.

[Beef Jones] Okay? Alright. She was like, oh my god. This flight's so stupid. Let me book the private plane. She had us going out of the hangar over at the airport. Airport, like

[Gary Sheng] Okay. Okay.

[Beef Jones] Was So so less?

[Gary Sheng] So now I understand she's just like a virtue of she's like very good at many things, And so so and that's that's who you want to be your chief staff type thing. Because they can act on your behalf.

[Beef Jones] Yes.

[Gary Sheng] Right? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm done. So, ultimately, this is the sequence. Right? After the thirty days of proving ourselves, I'm gonna put together basically a ninety to one hundred and twenty day budget. That includes my pay increase

[Beef Jones] Mhmm.

[Gary Sheng] Which which Arthur was like, don't ask, please. Like, do me a favor, Gary. Don't ask for a pain. Increase. After one month. I'm like, that's what he said. I asked for 1.2. I I have the I have the balls to do that, I guess. Right? But he but he didn't say it what he knew weren't worth.

[Beef Jones] No. He didn't say it wasn't worth it. He just said Don't do it yet.

[Gary Sheng] Don't do it yet. He's me good advice. Right? Because I wanna look

[Beef Jones] He didn't want me to look arrogant.

[Gary Sheng] So That's good. That's great. He an ally, I think.

[Beef Jones] You didn't throw you under the bus?

[Gary Sheng] Yes. He didn't throw me under the bus. He didn't let me fail. So I will I will totally retain her as she moves out. After the thirty days. Yeah. So yeah. Great idea. I love that.

[Beef Jones] Is great because I can come here in the morning do mornings with you, and then I can go to the store. Because I'm about to put a lease on that store that, you know, for the records.

[Gary Sheng] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Go. And that'd be, like, a little after hours I'll do that. I love that. That's cool. But so yes. This is easy. Now because that was my whole thing is like, okay, What is the actual like programming? Each day? Like, how like, who's the specialist in that field? And if it's him, that's it. I'm I'm fucking with him. He's from this work. He's from rap. Know what I'm saying? Rack. You know what mean? From the rack.

[Beef Jones] I fucking love the crib, man. Like, I I swear. I was like, I told you every time I'm in Chicago, felt like I was born in Chicago.

[Gary Sheng] Yo, we should should have a gang member track.

[Beef Jones] We do. We have

[Gary Sheng] Okay. Not not a big huge fan.

[Beef Jones] So okay. I want you to here's what I want you to do. One thing I want you do Mhmm. Is figure out what monopoly needs to be a master three months for six weeks. Weeks, seven weeks. Right? Mhmm. Or whatever. And it's basically, like, know, two months Austin, what do you need? Mhmm. Cool. K. Because I want him to be to his foot in the door here. Because he's really excited about it. Right? Oh, his wife is excited. Too. She's she's a killer. Honestly, she she's the killer.

[Gary Sheng] Oh.

[Beef Jones] Well, she's she's a killer. Like, the combination of them together is a fucking

[Gary Sheng] We should have her instead.

[Beef Jones] I'm not saying you should have her instead, but she's

[Gary Sheng] Why not both then?

[Beef Jones] Yes. Because immediately

[Gary Sheng] Wait. Why not both?

[Beef Jones] I mean, she's on the cover of fucking Forbes.

[Gary Sheng] Wait. Why My Book?

[Beef Jones] Yeah. So Okay. So Okay. Well, She's She's In Liberia. She's into women's rights, and health and all that stuff. So we already have you're in Oranganyara. We're gonna eat Jomino, believe me. We're gonna eat Miata. We're already gonna fill out the freaking whole thing in the next twenty four hours. We can have multiple have a few multiple people. Like, you know what I'm saying? Because there's a there's a few names I'm I'm interested interested in that I'm, like, I'm really

[Gary Sheng] No. I'm saying let's get let's get letters of intent. From every let let's get letters of intent from, like, all of our top people. You know what I'm saying?

[Beef Jones] You did. My boy, Dan, he I hired him ten years ago to do books, to a talent book for me, and he's now talent booking in case. He has every single he just like, yo. I'm I'm I'm now booking for talk to her. Do you want her? Was like, hell no. No. Fuck no. I was like, that's The fuck is that? Yeah. The fuck is I'm just saying, he just talent. For it. So here's his music artist list. Right? So so he's broken down. He goes Creatives, he said, Jess Sheep. Stylist, Quill Lemons, photographer, Tyler Mitchell, photographer Miles Lofty. These are big photographers. We have personalities, from play Platboy Max blah blah blah. We got sports and mobiles. Angel Reese, Chloe Kim, Jaylen Green, Saquon Barkley, AJ Green, Tech and business, we have Idra Sandhu, We have G and Tally Rao. We have Avi Shipments. Ollie Devo. Felix Fingerbean, And then we have all kinds of celebrities from Joey Badass, Cordae, DDG, Tara Wack, Chloe Bailey, Jayden Smith, Will Smith, Tommy Richmond. These are just people that are on stuff. Let's

[Gary Sheng] Thing is shaping up. So what I want you to do is importantly frame this up as, like, we're in talks with you know, Joe, to create some more programming. It's not confirmed yet. We need to get all the approvals. But if this were to happen, Mhmm. Would you be down? We'll would what would it cost?

[Beef Jones] Okay.

[Gary Sheng] Wanted to be very clear. I want people to have the wrong expectation. Right? But, like, a lot of this summer, a lot of this summer programming will happen if we get the right letters of intent. Right?

[Beef Jones] No. We're getting the right letters of 10. You really just have to send me a list of of people who you want. That's pretty much it. And just find out what tractor we're what are the tracks that we're going are we doing, like, entertainment tracks, sports track, tech track. You know, like art track, you know?

[Gary Sheng] This.

[Beef Jones] Both of these.

[Gary Sheng] I didn't know the Lamont's like Drake.

[Beef Jones] L does. What