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Summary of Conversation: Gary Sheng and David Kobrosky (June 1, 2025)

This document summarizes a conversation between Gary Sheng and David Kobrosky on June 1, 2025, at Jack's Wife Freda in New York City. The discussion covered Gary's potential role at Bevy, challenges with his ongoing AI school project and its founder Joe Liemandt, insights into White House faith initiatives led by Paula White, and a shared vision for building movement infrastructure and a personal CRM.

1. Bevy Opportunity with Derek Andersen​

David Kobrosky discussed a significant opportunity for Gary at Bevy, a company specializing in event, discussion, and forum software with major clients like Salesforce and Google.

  • Engagement with Bevy Leadership: Gary is in advanced talks with Bevy, including its founder Derek Andersen, the CTO, and the Head of AI. David mentioned, "(46:36) I'm talking to Derek tomorrow," and Gary confirmed, "(50:09) We have four more sessions to go. I've got a CTO. I've got the head of AI."
  • Potential Roles for Gary:
    • Head of AI Products: David suggested, "(45:37) If he wants to meet up, he can head up like AI products." Gary echoed this: "(45:41) Well, at least like, head up AI products. That'd be really nice... That's definitely where I want to go."
    • Incubating a New Product (CRM/Community): Gary explored the idea: "(53:21) Do you think that Bevy would be interested in you incubating a new product as well around CRM?"
  • Derek Andersen's Interest: David indicated Derek's positive stance: "(49:53) Derek already likes you, right? ... (49:55) He already went to his board chat." (The "he's awful" seemed sarcastic in context).
  • Gary's Vision for Bevy: Gary sees potential in evolving Bevy's platform: "(52:29) So, theoretically, you could product manage them to add the features that we talked about, which would be so huge, bro." David strongly agreed.
  • Negotiation Stage: Gary is actively pursuing the opportunity: "(50:19) I'm pushing for a number, yes."

2. Challenges with Joe Liemandt and the AI School Project​

Gary expressed significant concerns and frustrations regarding his involvement with an AI school project, presumably led by billionaire Joe Liemandt.

  • Joe Liemandt's Leadership Style: Gary described Joe as wanting control without deep engagement: "(1:00:26) ...this is a situation where the billionaire Joe, he He wants control, but he has no bandwidth to be someone like a microcontroller. (1:00:45) And he doesn't even know what's going on either... (1:00:52) He doesn't want to be dedicated enough to get in the weeds to understand how to make good decisions, but he wants to control."
  • Rejected Proposals & Lack of Empowerment: Gary shared that his strategic plan, developed at Mackenzie Price's request, was rejected by Joe: "(1:09:07) I sent her and Joe the plan, Joe said no." Joe's rationale was vague: "(1:09:12) ...you're doing too much or something... that's not the point." Gary also feels unempowered: "(1:05:20) But also, he's not empowered me to have millions of dollars of budget for that."
  • Strained Dynamics with Mackenzie Price: Mackenzie Price, though initially supportive ("(1:09:01) I liked everything I've heard from you so far, Gary."), seems unable to influence Joe. Gary noted Joe's significant financial leverage over Mackenzie and her husband, Andy Price: "(1:03:05) And every dollar that they earn is from Joe." He also observed, "(1:10:40) McKinsey [Mackenzie] and Joe are not even talking. They're not synced up at all."
  • AI School's Status: Gary is concerned about the school's quality versus its marketing and expansion: "(1:07:08) But the problem is, the reality of the school is not really matching up to the market... (1:07:22) It's like a little hollow." He mentioned aggressive expansion plans ("(1:08:03) 12 new campuses... in the fall") and fears it's a "(1:08:22) bubble that could burst."
  • Gary's Shifted Motivation: Due to these challenges, Gary's stance has changed: "(1:13:48) I went from feeling I want to take ownership, deep love and ownership over this, to milk the opportunity... I don't think that he's ready for my level of ownership that I almost need to take if I'm gonna risk my network reputation on a product."

3. White House / Paula White / Faith Initiatives​

Gary shared insights from his engagement with White House faith initiatives, specifically involving Paula White.

  • High-Level Access: Gary stated, "(1:37:39) I really found a niche being like the futuristic, candid, wise, I was invited to this White House Faith Leader Summit with Trump's White House Faith Office Director."
  • Paula White's Influence: He described Paula White as "(1:40:24) Trump's personal pastor... (1:40:44) empowered to be one of the most powerful people in the country." She has an office "(1:41:45) right next to the West Wing."
  • Embedding Faith in Government: A key revelation was that "(1:39:36) Trump has allowed her to embed, or instructed her to embed a faith officer in every cabinet agency. So agriculture, education, commerce, everything." Gary noted this is "(1:40:55) not public knowledge." The initiative is nominally about anti-discrimination but signifies a deep integration of faith into the presidency.

4. Vision for Movement Infrastructure & Personal CRM​

A recurring theme was the need for better technology for community building and movement infrastructure, a challenge Gary and David feel uniquely positioned to address.

  • The Unmet Need: David asserted, "(1:43:00) There is [a need]. And no one has built anything remotely good so far." Gary added, "(1:44:21) And that itself is a genre of tech that's like many, many billions of value."
  • Gary's Personal CRM Experiment: Gary is already prototyping ideas: "(54:18) I basically I have a I kind of have a CRM I'm using, I'm building with a cursor... (54:37) And I basically built like a CIA file on everyone." He stores data, including graph documents, in a private GitHub repo.
  • David's Belief in Gary: David strongly feels Gary is the person to build this: "(1:44:12) So I basically think it has to be you [Gary]." He highlighted Gary's unique blend of experience, intuition, and vision: "(1:45:31) It requires so much, so much stuff that you just can't, you can't fake. It's just, it's in your head and your heart, bro."
  • Shared Purpose: Both expressed a sense that this is their calling: "(1:45:59) That's like I feel like we're meant to do this." Gary: "(1:46:17) It's something that I personally, I think you too, but I personally, it's very exciting. (1:46:26) Not only exciting, but it's definitely a need to do."

5. Personal Anecdotes from David Kobrosky​

David shared some personal background:

  • His fiancée is Mikayla.
  • He mentioned knowing a "Harrington" (38:27) and a "30 now... British guy" (38:47-38:49) who seems trustworthy.
  • He has been "getting tight with Mormons" (47:34).
  • Revealed his grandfather is Black from Arkansas (1:36:08).
  • Recounted an elaborate story about organizing a large social event in high school by managing ticket sales to ensure a good gender ratio, which led to him being called "the provider" by school authorities (1:21:50 - 1:24:54).

Concluding Thoughts​

The conversation highlighted Gary's active pursuit of a leadership role at Bevy, his deep frustrations with the AI school project under Joe Liemandt, his unique access and insights into White House faith initiatives, and a strong, shared conviction with David Kobrosky to build transformative movement infrastructure. The Bevy opportunity appears to be the most immediate focus for Gary.