On this episode of Peachtree Corners Life, host Rico Figliolini sits down with Dr. Aristo Shyn, owner of Link Dental Care, to discuss his journey from corporate dentistry to running a thriving private practice. Dr. Shyn shares insights on the challenges of entrepreneurship, how he built a patient-centric practice, and how technology is transforming modern dentistry.

They also dive into Link Dental Care’s community involvement, the role of social media in business growth, and the importance of creating an exceptional patient experience. Whether you’re interested in dentistry, business ownership, or local community impact, this conversation offers valuable takeaways.

Key Takeaways & Highlights:

• From Corporate to Private Practice – Why Dr. Shyn left corporate dentistry to build his own patient-focused practice.
• The Power of Technology in Dentistry – How 3D imaging, digital scans, and upcoming Botox treatments improve patient care.
• Growing a Business – The challenges of launching and expanding a dental office without prior business experience.
• Community Involvement – Supporting local schools, charities, and offering free dental makeovers.
• Navigating Insurance & Patient Care – Why transparency in billing is crucial in healthcare.
• The Role of Social Media – How Link Dental Care’s Instagram skits helped grow their brand and even go viral.
• Balancing Work & Family – Juggling a growing business while raising two kids.
• Future Plans – Potential expansion, but always staying patient-centered under one roof.

Listen in to learn how Dr. Shyn built a thriving dental practice while prioritizing technology, patient experience, and community engagement!

Transcript:

00:00:32 – Rico Figliolini

Hey, everyone. This is Rico of Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life here in the city of Peachtree Corners, Gwinnett County, just north of Atlanta. We have a great guest here today, Dr. Aristo Shyn, who owns Link Dental Care. Thank you for allowing us to do the podcast with you today.

00:00:48 – Aristo Shyn

Thank you for having us. I’ve been calling you our very own Joe Rogan for years now, so it’s an honor.

00:00:54 – Rico Figliolini

I’ve done over 250 episodes. I feel like I could be Joe Rogan. I get the head for it. Before we get into the show, though, let me say thanks to our sponsors. We have two. EV Remodeling, Inc., and Eli, who owns it, that lives here in Peachtree Corners. Great family. They do great work. They do design to build, whole house renovation, or your bathroom, your kitchen, or an addition to the house, whatever you need. They’ve done over 260 homes throughout the metro area. I think you should check them out. EVRemodelingInc.com is where you can find that. Vox Pop Uli, our second sponsor, is also here in Peachtree Corners, also family owned. So they take your brand and they bring it to life. So think about it. You have a brand, you have a car, vehicle. They do, I think this past year, they did over 1,600 vehicle wraps alone. You go to trade shows, they’ll put up a whole setup for you. You need shirts, they’ll do that for you. You need just one or you need 1,000, they’ll do all that for you. If you have a logo and you want to imprint it on an object, bring it to them. Challenge them. It’s amazing what they’ve done. So check them out. Vox Pop Uli is the company, and we appreciate the sponsorship of these podcasts, the magazines, and our journalism. Now that we’ve done the sponsors, I appreciate the conversation we’re going to have today. Aristo’s been, Dr. Shyn has been our family dentist for quite a while for all my kids and my wife and myself. So seeing you guys grow from a very small office that was probably big enough for you when you started.

00:03:06 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah, you’ve been with us since the beginning. Yeah, very humble beginnings.

00:03:09 – Rico Figliolini

So just moving from that, I saw you know you guys were getting more and more patients. The place was getting filled and now you’re in a larger location, a very beautiful place here right on Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Holcomb Bridge Road here. So tell us a little bit about your origins, where you started.

00:03:28 – Aristo Shyn

How far back do you want me to go?

00:03:30 – Rico Figliolini

Where were you born?

00:03:33 – Aristo Shyn

So I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, next to UMKC, which is where my dad went to dental school. And then moved to Alaska afterwards. Stayed in Alaska from ages 2 to 14. And then I moved to Florida, pursued a golf career, and then naturally transitioned to dentistry after that.

00:03:57 – Rico Figliolini

Naturally.

00:03:58 – Aristo Shyn

Yes. And then I’ve been in Georgia since 2012.

00:04:01 – Rico Figliolini

That’s amazing. You went from Missouri, where I’ve never been. I’m a Brooklyn kid. Kid. No longer a kid, but from Brooklyn. So I don’t know that place. Alaska, which is, for me, you know, grizzly bears is what I think of. So you went, right? From grizzly bears, snowstorms, to Florida, alligators, rocks, and hurricanes. And now Atlanta, of which you find almost none of that, actually.

00:04:25 – Aristo Shyn

It’s nice.

00:04:27 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, it must be different, right? But you went to start with a golf career. When did that even take hold?

00:04:40 – Aristo Shyn

In Alaska, of all places. Yeah, I was pretty good at it. Again, we moved to Florida to pursue that, but I think dentistry was my true calling, and I think I made the right choice.

00:04:55 – Rico Figliolini

Well, and you were kind of young too, I think, when you got your dental degree?

00:05:00 – Aristo Shyn

Yes. I try not to talk about that too much, but I was 23 when I graduated.

00:05:07 – Rico Figliolini

I saw that. I was like, that’s amazing. And so you’ve been practicing since then, obviously.

00:05:10 – Aristo Shyn

Mm-hmm.

00:05:13 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah. So you’re in Atlanta. You moved here in 2012. You decided to start your business in less than a year of moving here.

00:05:23 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah, I think my first job in Atlanta was a corporate job. It wasn’t for me, to say the least. I think I lasted about seven months before saying, I got to do this. I got to do something else. I got to do this on my own. And that’s how I came to Peachtree Corners.

00:05:45 – Rico Figliolini

So just to be clear for people to know, it’s corporate dentistry is what you were working at. So corporate environment with multiple offices and stuff is a whole different business model, I think. Isn’t it?

00:06:02 – Aristo Shyn

Yes, to say the least.

00:06:08 – Rico Figliolini

Yes. You might not want to say it, but I’ll say it. Corporate dentistry is not that great. When you don’t have an owner that owns the business and doing the work that’s passionate about his patients and his community, it’s way different than dealing with someone that’s billing out of Texas let’s say or they have multiple 20, 30, or 90 offices throughout the country. And they sound like they’re local because they sort of keep the name of the place so they sound local but they’re really not. And so they’re driven by money because they have a big nut to pay.

00:06:36 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah, you’re just trying to get me into trouble right now.

00:06:39 – No, no, I’m saying it so it’s okay.

00:06:42 – Aristo Shyn

Listen, I would, in general, and this is from my own experience and what my colleagues have experienced as well, it’s just a lot of, and I think there are good dentists there, but unfortunately they don’t have the autonomy or the control over the whole operation. So I would say a lot of corporate offices, a lot of chain offices, are profit and production driven versus being patient-centric.

00:07:02 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I can’t argue with that.

00:07:05 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah, I mean, for example, and this you’ll find often in the industry, when you have your morning huddles, a lot of times at those offices, you’re looking at the schedule for that day. And if there’s not enough production on the schedule, you have to find crowns or implants somehow. And I’ll let our audience use their own imagination for that one. But when we have our meetings, we don’t really talk about that. And we talk about how to streamline logistics and how to improve the patient experience. And these days, fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve been doing some Instagram skits. I’ve been putting my staff through a whole other level of stress.

00:07:58 – Rico Figliolini

You all have to visit the Instagram channel that he has. He comes up with all the skits himself. Some of them are really cool. They’re all pretty good. I mean, some of them are hilarious.

00:08:09 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah, we really, you would expect, you know, before and after photos or us selling something. But I think we’re just trying to have fun there. I really don’t know what we’re selling, but it’s fun. I think it still gives us exposure in a different way. We have a live follower counter there. We’re trying to get that up right now. So follow us, please.

00:08:27 – Rico Figliolini

What is the Instagram? It’s Link Dental Care.

00:08:30 – Aristo Shyn

It’s @LinkDentalCare.

00:08:32 – There you go. So follow them. They want to hit 1,000, like, you know, soon. But no, I think that’s a great team building to be able to do that. There’s a lot of pressure sometimes in doing work and such, and every day is different. I think we would talk before a little bit about how you, you know, you go from one patient speaking English, let’s say, to another patient and speaking Spanish or maybe Korean. So multiple languages here in the office, and multiple challenges, dental challenges, right?

00:09:06 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah. I mean, due to the range of services that we offer from fillings, crowns, to root canals, implant surgeries, sinus surgeries, we get quite the variety of cases here. And then there are days where in one room I’m speaking obviously English, and then next room, I’m speaking Spanish. The other room, I’m speaking Korean. And I think we did a count earlier. We speak a total of nine different languages in this office.

00:09:38 – Rico Figliolini

It’s amazing that you speak three languages, at least.

00:09:43 – Aristo Shyn

Two and a half. We’ll call it three.

00:09:43 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. You get by on it. That’s good. So busy, busy work. Technology, though, drives a lot of dental practices now, too. So tell us a little bit about some of the technological improvements you’ve made here. Some of the technology you’ve brought in.

00:10:01 – Aristo Shyn

Well, everything’s new here. So it’s all digital. All new x-ray units, we have our 3D cone beam imaging machine, we have a 3D scanner, we’re doing really cool stuff with digital photography not just for before and after cases but also to communicate with our lab. We’re doing botox and dermal fillers soon. Busy.

00:10:29 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, that’s amazing. Botox. How does that work in dental?

00:10:34 – Aristo Shyn

I think it’s been requested quite a bit. We haven’t started it yet. We will very soon. It’s not just for, I don’t think it’s just for cosmetics, but it can do a lot with TMJ and related issues.

00:10:51 – Rico Figliolini

Now, when you started on Peachtree Park, it was just you. I think your mom was helping at the front desk.

00:10:55 – Aristo Shyn

No, she wasn’t there at the time.

00:10:57 – Rico Figliolini

She wasn’t there. She came later, maybe.

00:11:01 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah. It was, I think it was a thousand square feet. I don’t think anything was digital at the time. And I had, it was me, one and a half hygienists, one assistant, and one person in the front. Yeah, I still remember I could actually stand in the middle of the office, and if I did a 360, I could see everything. The front office, the four chairs, the lab.

00:11:23 – Rico Figliolini

Yes, I was just thinking the same thing. That’s how small this place was. How many square feet is this place?

00:11:33 – Aristo Shyn

I think it’s just over 3,000.

00:11:38 – Rico Figliolini

And you took on a new, also an additional practitioner with you as well?

00:11:41 – Aristo Shyn

Oh, yeah. New staff, front offices, expanded assistants, hygienists. Another doctor. I mean, she’s been terrific.

00:11:42 – Rico Figliolini

Dr. K?.

00:11:51 – Aristo Shyn

Yep. Dr. K.

00:11:52 – Rico Figliolini

So business has been going well. So that’s good, no?

00:11:54 – Aristo Shyn

It’s been busy. It’s been busy.

00:12:00 – Rico Figliolini

Can’t complain. And there are challenges, right? So let’s go back a little bit. Challenges of opening a business. What would you say to an entrepreneur, to another dentist that wanted to do the same thing? What challenges did you have to overcome when you did that?

00:12:16 – Aristo Shyn

When we first started everything I mean, I was still learning. I had no business experience, I had no HR experience. I mean, I was still learning dentistry at the time so you know the normal course for I’d say acquiring a dental office is, you know you’re usually out in the field for a few years and then you kind of pick up on things and you know slowly transition. But everything happened at once for me so I don’t recommend you do that because it’s quite the learning curve. But going back to everyday challenges, though, I would say half of my stress is just due to my staff, which I love very much, who I love very much. I think we have the best staff ever right now, but you’ve got to deal with staff every single day. So there’s always something. And then beyond that, it’s insurance. Insurance is an issue for, I think, everyone involved in the insurance game. And then after that, it’s just dealing with a wide range of patients and cases that we have coming in, which is also fun for me. But there’s also some focus and stress, and we’re always on our toes. So there’s that aspect to it.

00:13:35 – Rico Figliolini

I think part of that stress probably is because you’re, of your concern for your patients and stuff. I mean you’re sharing that stress with them right? Because some of them, because like you said insurance can be an issue. You know they come in they have to do certain things insurance may or may not cover it or you know, yeah. I mean so, has that changed in the state of Georgia a lot over the past decade?

00:14:01 – Aristo Shyn

I don’t know, insurance is kind of like a foreign language to me. We try our very best to be transparent with everything, I mean not just in my communication with our patients but also you know with our front desk communicating you know regarding finances and numbers. But you know, we try our best, that’s all I can say.

00:14:19 – Rico Figliolini

No that’s good. That you know, I mean that’s the toughest part I think when it comes to medical.

00:14:23 – Aristo Shyn

And our front desk goes to bat for patients if there’s any issues with insurance we don’t just give up and you know tell them that it’s on them so yeah. I know my front desk works very hard.

00:14:36 – Rico Figliolini

Okay cool. You know, the care that you show into the community as well, right? You’re involved with the community. So let’s cover that a little bit as well. What do you like doing in the community? What have you done? Where has Link Dental Care been involved in when it comes to community organizations, events and stuff?

00:14:55 – Aristo Shyn

Well, it’s very different now than when I first started. And I’m very happy and proud of where we are today. For example, I mean, even last year we were able to sponsor the Norcross High School Marching Band, local photography club. I’ve worked closely with Norcross Co-op for quite some years. And it’s, you know, when we interview for dental school, you know, one thing that we’re always saying is we want to be part of the community. We want to be involved in the community. And, you know, that wasn’t the case when we first started. Now that we’re here. Yeah, I plan on staying here and being more involved as time goes on.

00:15:37 – Rico Figliolini

That’s cool. You know, I mean, the biggest thing that we do at the magazine and stuff is that we like to be a cheerleader for businesses that are giving back to the community, doing things with the community, especially if you’re pulling from this community. You know, your patients, your customers, and all that. So being involved makes sense.

00:15:57 – Aristo Shyn

Yeah. And I think we’ve done quite a bit of charity over the years. We don’t advertise it or we don’t really post a whole lot of it on social media. But outside of working at volunteer clinics, we try to take on at least one patient a year and give them a makeover, which they wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise. That’s something I’ve been doing.

00:16:21 – Rico Figliolini

That’s cool. That’s great that you’re able to do that. When the business gets to a certain point, and you’re facing these everyday challenges, right? At the end of the day, what do you do to release that stress, that pressure? I mean, what do you do outside of the office? You’re not playing golf anymore. 

00:16:53 – Aristo Shyn

No, it takes too much time.

00:16:54 – Rico Figliolini

Do you get out of the office? What time do you close up?

00:16:57 – Aristo Shyn

Well, it’s a good thing I still like what I’m doing. But yeah, life’s gotten busy. So the way I see it, I mean, I do have a few hobbies, but really it’s been work and my kids right now. So when I’m working, the way I see it, it’s overtime in a football, basketball scene. And then when I’m with my kids, it’s game seven, triple overtime. So that’s where all my focus has been after work.

00:17:28 – Rico Figliolini

Sure, sure. You have two kids, I think? Two kids. Good-looking kids. So, you know, you’re expanding. You’ve done your expansion. But there’s a future, right? I know you want to stay here. You want to expand. What does the future look like for Link Dental Care? For you? 

00:17:44 – Aristo Shyn

We just moved in here. We’re talking about expansion again.

00:17:47 – Rico Figliolini

Are you really? You just moved in here. How long has it been? It’s been a few years. Can’t you stop?

00:17:58 – Aristo Shyn

I mean, a few. I mean, patients and staff have asked me in the past, what do I plan to do? Do I plan on opening multiple offices or another location? And to answer one part of that question, I think when a dentist branches out to two, three, four offices, there comes a point where you’ve got to stop being a dentist and become more of a businessman. And I still like what I’m doing a lot. And I really want to keep our practice patient-centric and really emphasize that we are a people business, not a tooth-cutting business or a production business. But, you know, I definitely plan on staying in Peachtree Corners. We’re not leaving. I mean, if there ever is another expansion, you can rest assured it’ll still be under one roof. That’s been always important to me. And I mean, going forward though, I think we’re just, we’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing. We’re going to continue to stay up with technology, continue to reinvest in the office and the community.

00:19:19 – Rico Figliolini

Okay. Yeah. Sounds good. This is a great place. People want to take the tour. I mean, 3,000 square feet is a lot of space. I think you have plenty of space to expand in. What should people know about you maybe that they don’t know? Is there anything interesting that you want to share?

00:19:41 – Aristo Shyn

I can share what our dental practice focuses on. I think a lot of times patients and dentists alike, they emphasize, they put their emphasis a lot on good dental care. And that is absolutely important. But, you know, to us, you know, good dental care alone doesn’t really, it doesn’t always equate to a good patient experience. And I care a lot about the patient experience. So that means the patient experience starts from the first time you call into our office, from the time you walk through our doors the first time. From the way you’re greeted from the front office, from the way, you know, our assistants or hygienists take you back to the clinical area. So, you know, bedside manners and having clear communication. So, you know, when you’ve put in all those factors, you know, the receiving good dental care, although quite important, it’s not the only piece to the puzzle. So that’s been my focus. 

00:20:48 – Rico Figliolini

Cool. Patient-centric, essentially. Well, we’ve been speaking to Dr. Aristo Shyn. It’s a great practice, you guys have. I’m glad that he’s my dentist also, my family dentist. He has been doing a great job. So I appreciate you giving us some time and telling us a bit about your business.

00:21:06 – Aristo Shyn

Thank you.

00:21:07 – Rico Figliolini

Thank you. Everyone, if you have any questions, you can actually check out the website, which is?

00:21:13 – Aristo Shyn

LinkDentalCare.com. There you go.

00:21:15 – Rico Figliolini

And Instagram, it’s the same handle, @LinkDentalCare, right? Anything else you want to share? Count is 455, so we need to get that up to 1,000 apparently.

00:21:25 – Aristo Shyn

It was 200 a few months ago. I’ll tell you one more thing about Instagram before we end this. Within a couple months of us actually trying on Instagram, we actually went viral on one video. We got 1.3 million views.

00:21:41 – Rico Figliolini

Damn, which video was that one? 

00:21:43 – Aristo Shyn

That was last year. It was the one about our 3D scanner. So I thought I figured it out and I was almost ready not to come into work the next day. And then here I am doing a podcast with Rico.

00:21:57 – Rico Figliolini

Sorry, it’s not a YouTube content or TikTok creator yet, but he’ll get there soon. Thanks everyone. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments. Of course, we’ll have links in the show note and you can always find Dr. Aristo Shyn here at Link Dental Care. So thanks again, everyone. Take care.

Discover how Alex Wright, a former U.S. Naval officer, founding member of the City of Peachtree corners, and corporate finance veteran, made the bold decision to “burn the ships” and launch his own fractional CFO firm. Burn the Ships Financial embodies Wright’s philosophy of unwavering dedication to success. Wright explains how fractional CFO services can help entrepreneurs navigate their financial journey, from basic accounting setup to high-level strategic guidance.

Resources:

Burn The Ships Website: https://burntheshipsfinancial.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Burn the Ships Mentality – Why Alex embraced total commitment when leaving corporate America to start his own business.
• Solving Business Challenges – How a fractional CFO helps entrepreneurs manage cash flow, optimize processes, and grow sustainably.
• Financial Storytelling – The power of translating financial data into actionable insights for business owners.
• City Leadership & Business Strategy – Lessons learned from helping launch Peachtree Corners as a smart city and how that applies to business growth.
• The Role of Technology in Finance – How tools like QuickBooks and Power BI can improve financial planning—if used correctly.
• Long-Term Business Planning – Why forecasting, budgeting, and understanding financial trends are crucial for sustained success.

Listen in as Alex Wright shares his journey from the military to corporate finance and now to empowering small businesses with Burn The Ships Financial!

Timestamp:

00:00:02 – Interview with Alex Wright

00:02:27 – From Naval Officer to City Leader, Alex’s Remarkable Journey

00:06:45 – Burning the Ships, Commitment to the Mission

00:10:39 – Solving Business Problems as a Fractional CFO

00:13:59 – Optimizing Business Efficiency Through Financial Analysis

00:18:14 – Guiding Entrepreneurs to Financial Clarity

00:21:30 – Providing Financial Guidance and Structuring for Growing Businesses

00:25:46 – Translating Financial Data into Actionable Insights

00:31:19 – Leveraging City Startup Experience for Business

00:37:43 – Helping Others Succeed From Military to Coaching to Entrepreneurship

00:42:14 – Expanding Startup with Passionate Partners

00:45:31 – Connecting with Burn The Ships Financial

Transcript:

00:00:34 – Rico Figliolini

Hi, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life. I have a great guest today, this morning, Alex Wright. Hey, Alex. Thanks for joining me.

00:00:43 – Alex Wright

Hey, Rico. It’s good to see you again. Thanks for the invite.

00:00:46 – Rico Figliolini

Sure. We’re going to have exciting things to talk about. But before we get into that, I just want to say thank you to our two sponsors, EV Remodeling Inc. and Eli and his family who live here in Peachtree Corners and the company is based here. Provide a sponsorship to us for supporting our podcast and our magazines. And EV Remodeling Inc. is a company that does design to build. You need a whole house remodeled or you just need your bath remodeled or your kitchen, they’re the people to do it. They’ve done over 260 large projects over the past few years. And you should check them out. Great supporter of ours. Great people. Nice guy. EVRemodelingInc.com is where you can find them. Our second sponsor, Vox Pop Uli, is also based here on Peachtree Corners. Family owned, they are a company, if you have a brand and you want to bring that brand to life, Vox Pop Uli is the people to do it. They do, think about the truck wraps, car wraps that you see traveling around, trade show booths, signage, anything you need imprinted on any object imprinting. They’re the people to do it. You need a backdrop for you, 20 feet by 10 feet tall, they can do it. Any of those things that will bring your brand to life is what they’re doing. Challenge them, and they’ll come back and surprise you. They’re right here in Peachtree Corners and Norcross. So check them out, Vox Pop Uli, and the link will be in the show notes. But if you search them, V-O-X, P-O-P, U-L-I, you’ll find them. Thanks again for your support. So now we have Alex. So let me introduce Alex a little bit. He has a great background. He served in U.S. Naval, as a U .S. Naval officer back during the 90s. He was the founding member of the City of Peachtree Corners City Council and has been a city councilman here in leadership here since 2012 when he was first elected. He was also the guy that originated the idea of Curiosity Lab that set our path on being a smart city and on so many foundational parts that the Curiosity Lab has been involved in including autonomous vehicle, 5G technology, and all that. So without him, I don’t know where we’d be when it comes to that. Georgia Institute of Technology grad, so much more. He’s also a board member of the Peachtree Corners Veterans Monument Association, if you’re familiar with that and the monument that we have at Town Center. So now that I’ve given a really good background, I think, of you, Alex, why don’t you tell us just a little bit more about what what you’ve been up to and where where we’re going?

00:03:33 – Alex Wright

Yes, that was a great introduction. I wish my wife could have heard how great you made me sound she would’ve found that entertaining. Yeah so I, after I got out of the navy, you know I went to the graduate school and then basically the next 25 years was at various companies in corporate finance. Some big ones, Glaxo Welcome, which I guess that was GlaxoSmithKline, Home Depot, Equifax. And then the last 11 years was at a big consumer products company in a divisional CFO role. That was here in Atlanta. And about three, I guess it’s probably November, I made a decision to transition out of corporate America and with some colleagues of mine that I used to work with, formed a fractional CFO company. Some people refer to it as business advisory firm. And it’s called Burn the Ships. That’s the name of the company. And so, yeah, we’re in the process of just getting engaged in the community, you know, looking for companies that could use our services.

00:04:56 – Rico Figliolini

So tell me, I understand the burn the ships part, but really what inspired you to name burn the ships financial?

00:05:04 – Alex Wright

So, you know, when I was making the decision to leave corporate America and, you know, that’s kind of all you know, it’s, you get comfortable with that and to make that, you know, giant career change you know it’s, it can be kind of scary. And I happened to be reading a book at you know during this time when I was trying to figure out and do I want to do this and the name of the book was called actually burn the boats. And the book is about it’s written, I can’t remember the guy’s name, but he’s an entrepreneur serial entrepreneur and the gist of the book is not to have a plan b. And you can apply that concept to really anything, whether it be your marriage or training for an athletic event or starting a business, that something that’s going to be challenging and require your full effort in order to succeed, you can’t have that thought of, well, if this doesn’t work out, I’ll just go back to that. It has to be a total commitment. So that phrase is a metaphor for total commitment. You know, there’s a, not to go into much of the history, but, you know, the phrase comes from, not to go into a lot of history, but of Cortes when he was exploring the coast of Mexico. He had been tasked with that. And he gets there and discovers that, you know, there’s the Aztec Empire is there and decides, hey, I want to go into the bowels of Mexico and see what’s going on there. He just had a few hundred men with him. These guys that he had with them were apprehensive, obviously, because he wants to march into the jungle, the unknown. Plus, their orders were to just explore the coast. Well, his solution to that was, I’m going to eliminate the plan B. And the way he did that was he literally burned all the ships. There was now no way to go back. It was succeed or, in their case, die. So that phrase is about total commitment to the mission. And it really, at that time, it rang, just struck a chord with me as I was trying to make this decision because that’s a big change in a lot of different ways. And so I really just loved the story, that idea of total commitment. And so that’s the brief background or as brief as I could make it, where that phrase came from, because I just loved that story about the, you know, the commitment. Those other, not to go on a lot of my other, you know, kind of pursuits that I’ve got in my life, but, you know, different, whether it be especially like athletic things or projects, some of the things we’ve done with the city where it’s only going to succeed, you know, totally buy into, you know, what we’re trying to accomplish, the total commitment. So that’s the, that’s the name. And you know another, some of the advice I got was you need to make the name evocative so when someone hears that name, I think what does that mean? You know versus opposed to a right CFO services.

00:08:27 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, no I totally agree with that branding is key to to a lot of what we do and get people remembering. And I can appreciate what you’re saying too because having, I mean I have not worked in corporate environment except for a couple of years. And I’ve been on and off a business owner and then working for a company and stuff. So I’ve been on both sides of that so it’s a little different. But you’ve, your whole career has been with corporate large companies, so I can appreciate that jumping off the ship almost and not going back is really scary, I’m sure. So your experience has been as a divisional CFO at least for the past decade or so, I guess. How do you think that that’s going to, how does that shape the services that you’re offering through Burn the Ships Financial?

00:09:23 – Alex Wright

So in this role I had, when people say, I worked in corporate finance, that can mean a whole lot of different things because in larger companies, the finance department’s quite large. So the role I had, in this business, and this company had probably 15 businesses, and as a divisional CFO, you’d be embedded in the business. And what that means is you’re at the table with the decision makers actually helping run the business. From generating sales to making, say, manufacturing more efficient to how can we ship more efficiently to negotiating with vendors for better terms, you name it. You had exposure to that. So the relevance of that is you’ve seen, now granted, maybe it’s a bigger scale, bigger numbers, but the challenges of making a business successful, you’ve had exposure to a full P&L balance sheet, just like for a small company. And so that allows you, the reason that’s translatable is ultimately what, when companies hire someone. As a fractional CFO, really what they’re looking for is I’ve got a problem. I’ve got a pain point and I need someone to help alleviate that pain to make that, help take that problem away. So it’s really about problem solving. So running a business in the finance role is ultimately about solving problems as well. So I feel like the skill set is very translated because that’s what I did for 10 years, which was solve problems to make the, our business more financially successful.

00:11:13 – Rico Figliolini

In the practical way, can you give us an example, without sharing the company you worked with I guess or you know particularly, but is there an example that you can give of how that translates in an actual real life story?

00:11:30 – Alex Wright

Yes. So now you know at a larger company it’s especially when it’s publicly traded, you know, it’s all about how do we get our earnings per share up? You know, the company is normally pretty stable. And like, say, a smaller company, they might, in some cases, might be fighting for survival in some instances. So a little bit different scenario, but ultimately it’s about how do we make the company more profitable, whether it be small or big. And so an example of something we did at this larger company is, we were in a market where there wasn’t a lot of growth on the top because it was an industry that was actually kind of shrinking. So how do you grow profit if your top line is stagnant at best or maybe just growing through price increases, very low single digits? So one of the things that you could look at is, let’s look at our product, the actual composition of the product. So we are actually a manufacturer. Are there ways that we can make the product that we’re producing less costly, but hopefully in the process also make it more effective? And so in this instance, the product in this case was grass seed. You’re thinking, well, what can you possibly do to grass seed? But in today’s world, they actually take the grass seed and they put a biostimulant around it so that when the seed goes out, it has a much higher probability of germinating. So what you would look at is, what can we do with the stimulant to change the makeup of it, change the composition where it’s, maybe the germination is even higher, but we’ve substituted some type of material that costs less. So in those instances, you’re working with an R&D department, you’re marketing people. And so in this instance, we did that over a series of five years, switched all of our, you know, changed the composition of our products. And so the ultimate takeaway for that was we increased the margins for the business by about a thousand basis points. So what that means is let’s say your margin was 30%, now it’s 40%. So that’s, and that drops straight to the bottom line through that. Something is, it wasn’t simple, but you know, instead of saying, well, there’s nothing we can do because we’re not growing is to basically look at everything on the pan out. What are, you know, areas that we could look at? I mean, you could apply that to your own personal life. I’m trying to cut back on spending and you go through and look at every expense and explore it. And maybe we don’t need the 1G, you know, internet. Maybe we just need the 500 megabytes and, you know, no stone uncovered. That’s the way we had to operate and I think that’s very translatable skill for smaller businesses because most likely they’re going to be even more cost conscious than you know a bigger company that’s got you know, more resources at their disposal.

00:14:45 – Rico Figliolini

So it’s really looking closely not just at the books but at the process of what companies do, right?

00:14:52 – Alex Wright

That’s exactly right. So one of the things when I’m, and this is before I transitioned, you know people would say well you know what does finance do? It’s just kind of this broad term and I would always describe it as in three pieces and it’s very simplistic, the first the most basic part is the gathering of of information. And that could be billing AR, AP like in a big company that’s completely automated, smaller company it might not even really exist. The next level is you’re taking that information, you’re analyzing it, you’re putting it into a reporting format. At a bigger company, not completely automated, but mostly automated. At a really small company, especially like reporting, the small business owner, his financials might be his bank statement. That might be the limit of what he’s got. And the third part, and this is really where finance differs from, say, accounting, is. You are going to the decision maker and you’re saying, hey, if you pull this lever, this will happen over here. You’re giving them actionable data, advice, if you will, on how to drive the company, whatever the company’s financial goals are, giving them suggestions how to do that.

00:16:17 – Rico Figliolini

So it’s also, I guess. You know, if I look at it from what I do a little bit, from my business and stuff, every business is somewhat the same to the degree there’s peaks and valleys. You might not always have the same trend line of revenue coming in and stuff. So it’s finding how to maximize the use of the money that’s coming in and the money flowing out. Maybe it’s the manufacturing or the service side and how that’s being done. Whether that’s parts being delivered or how it’s being ordered and such. So you’re looking beyond just the numbers on the books. You’re trying to optimize the way a company’s doing business behind the scenes.

00:16:59 – Alex Wright

That’s right. And that’s the thing I was talking about being embedded in the business, being part of the decision-making is, again, looking at the full P&L. You’re not just reporting the news you’re trying to influence what’s going on. So you might be looking at in the course of a day okay how do we make our you know logistics more efficient. You might be looking at hey what’s the ROI on this marketing spend. You know any anything you can do to you know drive profitability. And that you know I guess that’s one of the upsides of a publicly traded company when you’ve got that pressure that quarterly pressure if we got to make earnings you know you’re looking at anything and everything all the time. Now there’s downsides to it because sometimes to make the numbers look a certain way things will be done that maybe aren’t super logical but you still have that relentless pressure to become more efficient to drive costs down as much as possible.

00:18:02 – Rico Figliolini

I think with certain types of business, like you said, the private business, smaller businesses, the owners tend to, the job keeps going, right? Three years will pass before you know it. Maybe they’re not optimizing their cash flow properly. Maybe they’re doing the work, if you will, and not really looking at everything because money’s coming in. Everything seems fine. They may not see even the trend of how things are going where maybe it’s going bad, but they’re not seeing it yet because maybe they have the revenue there. The cash flow is there. They might not see it for the next three months. And all of a sudden, they start realizing, whoa, this is bad. We’re beyond, why didn’t I see this before? So how does the aspect of what you do as a fractional CFO, let’s say, how will you give that foundation to these businesses? What’s the process, if you will?

00:19:01 – Alex Wright

Well, I think that obviously each company is different, right? You have to go in and see what, if any, processes they have. But I think if you make the assumption that they don’t, kind of your point, they’re just, you know, you’ve got this entrepreneur. They’re really good at making pencils. And that’s what their total focus is, selling those pencils, just growing, growing, growing. You know, they don’t really have a whole lot of time to, you know focus on the finances other than making sure they got enough money to meet payroll or buy anything. I think the key thing when you go in, in a situation like that is, you know, to talk to the owner or the founder, you know, understanding what is it that, you know, what are your, you know, try to define the goals besides just staying afloat, you know, kind of help them sit down. Okay. Let’s put this pen to paper. What is it you’re, I’m going to make something up, okay you’re doing 500,000, million in revenue and you want to get to a million and a half in two years. Again I’m just making this up. You know in the larger company it would be you know to be a budget or they’d call it a you know five-year plan it’d be some kind of structure you know a guide post if you will. I think that’s the, I mean you could apply that to your personal life. Like okay I’m trying to you know, retire at age 65 or I’m trying to lose 20 pounds or whatever it might be, whatever that you’re trying to accomplish. You’ve got the saying about if I fail to plan, I plan to fail. So I think that’s the key thing is to understand from that owner what it is you’re trying to accomplish. And then once, because ultimately it’s their business, you’re there to help them be successful. So once they’ve articulated what those goals are, then one of our jobs would be, okay, let’s lay out a plan to see if we can get to that. Because in some cases, you know, my experience has been people that are entrepreneurs, when it comes to forecasting financially, they’re not always the most realistic because they’re normally going to be really optimistic. I can conquer the world, which is you need that to be an entrepreneur. But one of the jobs of finance is to kind of poke holes in arguments, not to discourage people, but to make people think realistically, okay, can we grow from a million to a million and a half in two years? Understanding, you know, what is there a path to do that that’s realistic? And having those conversations with, you know, with these guys, because in some cases you’re bringing up things that maybe they haven’t thought about because they’re so focused on the here and now versus looking a year or two out that that’s just not really what they’re focused on because, again, they’re trying to grow the business.

00:22:08 – Rico Figliolini

So when you come into a firm, for example, you know, obviously people, you know, you want to build that foundation without the cost of a full-time CFO. I mean, that’s the idea, right? So work with me for a minute. In an ideal world, you would come in for a few hours or whatever that first month and then how would the rest of it work like is there a maintenance level that you provide? Quarterly stuff you provide? So give me in brief what that would look like to someone.

00:22:45 – Alex Wright

Right. So again, each company is going to be different but really kind of two levels, and I’m simplifying this, but really two levels of service. And you can pick one or the other or both. So let’s assume we’re talking about a company that we used an example earlier of the finances are literally the bank statement. I know how much cash I got. That’s kind of an extreme example. So we use that one as our example. So in that case, they don’t have a P&L or balance sheet. They don’t really know what’s going on other than, you know, how much cash they got in the bank and maybe in their head, they’ve got kind of a gut instinct of what’s going on. So in that instance, you know, you’re going to have to come in and create a structure that will allow you to build a P&L, which is, you know, the foundation of any type of forecasting or budgeting. You’ve got to have that initial document. And to get to that, you’ve got to go in and take basically all their transactions that, you know, are in their bank statement and create what’s called a trial balance, which is going to have a chart of accounts. Basically, all that is coding where, you know, okay, this is travel and this is, you know, sales and it’s basically, you know, accounting 101, right? And so that base level of service would be something like that plus reporting that goes with it. And that reporting you would get through programs like Microsoft power BI that can do you know anything at the like that but you’ve got to have the you know the numbers formatted. So that would be a basic level of service and the first time that initial transition that would be time consuming because you’ve got to you create something, a structure that’s not there before. But then after you’ve created a structure you know each month you’re just really just updating, you know the results putting them into a P&L format. And if we think back when I was talking about the three levels of finance that’s really like the first two levels combined. So that’d be like a fixed fee you know for that service almost like a subscription. The second level of service it’s more like what that kind of like that third level I was talking about before where you’re sitting down with the decision maker and you’re telling them hey, this is what’s going on with your business. And depending on if they wanted to have, layout objectives, then you talk about the progress each month of how are we progressing versus these objectives that we’ve laid out. And if we’re off course, what things can we change to get you back on course? And so that would be an in-person review where, the analogy I use is that movie, The Matrix, if you remember, they’ve got all the data that’s doing this, right? You can’t read it. And so if you’re not in finance, often people struggle to, you can give them 20 reports, but if they’re not a finance person, they’re often going to be like, I don’t really understand what this is telling me. That second level is, it’s really about storytelling, where you’re taking the information and you’re telling the owner a story, you know, not in a fictional way, but this is what’s going on with your business, but you’re translating it in a way that is easy for them to understand, versus if you’re just talking about debits and credits, they’re going to be lost with that.

00:26:21 – Rico Figliolini

So if they already have QuickBooks online, for example, they’re already getting reports, you’re at that stage already, but you’re able to tell them more than that, what the reports give them in numbers, because you’re looking at all of it, right? Holistically almost.

00:26:38 – Alex Wright

That’s correct. So you know a lot of companies will have you know they’ll have a controller, bookkeeper, you know maybe both of them. And so in my you know previous life I had plenty of accountants that worked for me and really what their job, and I’m simplifying and this isn’t to say anything negative about accountants, like I said I’ve worked in accounting. But their job really is to tell you okay this is the number and this number is correct. But if you ask them well okay that number is that’s a number ten, last year it was a five, why did it go from a five to a ten? That’s really not what their role is in most cases. So they’re challenged to you know explain the why part of it right? And so that’s where, that’s really where finance comes in to explain what is going on. And not just report.

00:27:36 – Rico Figliolini

And not just explain it. I  would imagine if, from my point of view, you might explain why that went from a five to a ten, but you should probably be able to give me advice on, you know, where can we take that from now? You know, why is this? I know the difference is there. I knew it grew. Maybe it grew for this reason, but you might be able to tell me how we can adjust that, right? I mean, the whole idea is, for you to provide guidance. So almost like a, what do you call it? A person that, the accountability partner, if you will, in this.

00:28:15 – Alex Wright

Yeah. Well, that’s the great thing about, you know, having a budget is that you’ve, again, we were using examples earlier, but you could apply it to different parts of your, you know, personal life, but having that objective. If you don’t have that objective, then you don’t really know. It’s like driving a car. You’re trying to get somewhere, but you don’t have a map. You’re going to struggle without that map to point you in the direction you’re trying to get to.

00:28:45 – Rico Figliolini

So now we’ve got here, does technology play a part in what you do as well in financial advisory or in this type of field?

00:28:59 – Alex Wright

So the, remember when earlier I was talking about the kind of the three levels of not services but you know what finance does, and what’s occurred over the last 20 or more than 25 years is that systems like say SAP or Hyperion or for these large ERPs is they have really kind of flattened the work structure of companies because what they’ve allowed is it’s really like an early form of AI. Is  they automated you know tons and tons of functions that before there would have been literally like armies of people you know just doing kind of mindless work almost and so technology, now some of these small companies you know they’re not going to have an SAP or Hyperion but when we were talking earlier about power where that’s like Quickbooks but on steroids the kind of things that can do. But the reality is, whether it be QuickBooks or Power BI, if you don’t have that basic level of the information formatted, the magic can’t happen without that. So ultimately, at the smaller companies, there is some manual aspect of, I’ve got to code this expense correctly, input it. So the technology, at a smaller company, you know, that doesn’t have an SAP or Hyperion or Oracle is really more in the, you know, the reporting phase, the things it can do once the numbers are formatted correctly. It’s almost mind boggling now that the danger there is you can have too many reports. I can produce 30, 40 reports, but it’d be too much, you know, information. And that’s the, so when people talk about, well, I got QuickBooks. or even got Power BI, if you don’t have someone there to interpret it for you, to say, well, this is actually what this is telling you, it’s a very limited value. Like we were, again, using the Matrix example of it’s great, but if I can’t take any actions based off of it, then I don’t really want to do it.

00:31:15 – Rico Figliolini

Right. And I can see that in a world where a company might have two, three, or four different credit lines using them for a variety of reasons. Well, the financial planner might come in and say, why do we have these two where your APR, your interest rate is this high, you’re actually utilizing the wrong credit line or, you know, there could be a variety of things there, right? Let’s look a little bit at experience. As a founding member of Peachtree Corners, the city of Peachtree Corners since 2012, how has the involvement in local government influenced your business perspective? Has that influenced it at all? And where does that go?

00:31:57 – Alex Wright

The thing that I, kind of a, not a comparison, but an analogy is, I was talking to someone about this the other day where we started the city. There was an election to whether to have a city, and then there was an election to elect a council. So we had seven people who, for the most part, didn’t know each other. And I mean that was the city, there was no city staff there was no anything. So the reason that’s relevant it’s almost like a startup where we’re like okay we need to find someone, it’s like you don’t know what you don’t know. You had to go find people to kind of help us get started and then there’s those growing pains of whether it be the relationships amongst the council or you know finding the right people from a staff standpoint to be part of a city startup because if you think about all the cities in the country, very few new cities. That idea of a new city, it’s not unique to Georgia but you know prior to say like 2005 that wasn’t something that was happening here. So it’s that, there’s only certain people that want to take that risk. I guess it was kind of like going from a big corporation to a startup, it’s you got to have the right you know mindset and you know kind of fire in your belly to do it so it’s being part of something and seeing it grow from you know literally the seven of us in a room one day like meeting each other to you know what there is now. It’s what I envision starting a company would would be like. And you know maybe the the comparisons aren’t you know the correlation not completely you know accurate but I would think for sure there’s some you know similarities those same kind of decisions we had to make about bringing the right people in at the right time and you know just being able to get along. Because at a smaller company I would think those relationships are, the importance of them are more pronounced because there’s fewer people. Versus at a larger corporation not that the relationships aren’t important but you know the success or the failure of say like working at the home depot headquarters is it going to be based on you know just a you know my relationship with somebody because there’s 400,000 people that work there.

00:34:17 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, I think part of it too is you’re starting, you know, the city started with just, you know, with a certain amount of revenue because it took over some of that revenue being a city, franchise taxes, business licenses, but you also grew into a budget. And then as the city grew financially, I know it’s not a business, but you all treated it to some degree as a business, right? You didn’t spend money you didn’t have, or if you did there was a reason you knew where the revenue might come in from whether it was a grant or a loan or whatever it was. I’ve got to say that the city has overall done it responsibly. So has any of that informed the way you know or have you used your experience there you know working with that type of finance too?

00:35:08 – Alex Wright

So, you know the analogy I use sometimes with people is like the city council relationship, say, to the city manager is similar to in a company, a board of directors to a CEO. So that, you know, being a role, you know, because I was never on a board of directors at a company, you’ve got to be way up or probably older than me normally, you know, to be in that role of coming up with policies and then entrusting someone to execute those, you know, definitely gives you a different perspective. You know, running an organization because my career had been on the implementing people’s policy, you know, taking that directive from on high and implementing it and, you know, bringing it to some results. So to have that perspective from the other side has been, I think, good because, you know, I sit there and think about not too many people get that opportunity to be on the other side of the, you know, the table, if you will, to come up with policies. And trust other people, find the right people to enact those and make them successful.

00:36:20 – Rico Figliolini

Going from other experiences, your military service as a naval officer, has that also provided any experience that you’ve drawn on? Excuse my black cat.

00:36:34 – Alex Wright

No, you’re okay. That was a little more tricky. I think the thing that, where that part comes in, and this was really more about, you know, the why of, you know, I wanted to get into this type of work. Because when I was making the decision to leave corporate America, you know, I was in a position from a career standpoint, financial standpoint, a personal standpoint, you know, kids rolling off the payroll. There’s an opportunity here to do something different. And I did a, I don’t know if you know what a SWOT analysis is, but strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, did like a SWOT analysis of myself and thought, what is it that, you know, now in this situation where I don’t have as much responsibility as far as taking care of other people, like what really brings me, you know, satisfaction, fulfillment, besides just, you know, helping a company get that EPS each quarter. And, you know, the common theme as I looked at all these different things I’ve been involved in. I looked at my military experience, looked at serving on the city council. I looked at the 20 years I coached kids sports. All three of those things are thinking, how the heck are those three related to each other? But the common theme, because each one of those brought me satisfaction in different ways, was that you’re helping other people in each of those instances. You’re serving other people. You’re making other people either successful or in the case of, you know, the military is really about, you know, serving the nation, but it was doing stuff for other people. Again, differently. And I thought, how do I take these skills that I’ve built up over 25 years and do that in a way where I can help other people be successful? Because one of the things I would constantly hear from small business owners is, we were kind of talking about it before where they’re really good at you know that making the pencils or whatever it is but they struggle with finance because that’s not what their you know expertise is. And in a lot of instances can’t afford you know to bring somebody in or they don’t they don’t need someone full-time. And as I learned more about that industry I thought this could really fill that that impulse, if you will, you know, I’ve got about how can I help other people be successful? And in a way where you go in, you take this person’s got their whole life’s work tied up in this business. Their heart and soul in it. And to be able to go in and help them eliminate or alleviate some of their pain points that are preventing them from being successful. That really appealed to me much more than, well, I’m just going to go back into I’m going to call it the matrix of corporate america life we’re just going to you know get that EPS up three cents. You get to a certain point in life where like I’d really like to a bit of focus more on giving back. Just like with the you know city council it pays eight thousand dollars a year an occasional free t-shirt but you just have a great sense of satisfaction when you go out to the Town Center and you see like the the playgrounds and stuff we’ve built out there and you see all those people enjoying themselves you think you know I had a some small part of you know bringing that you know joy to these other people so it’s that same you know you want to do the same thing but in this different you know industry.

00:40:16 – Rico Figliolini

Now and I can see that. I mean you brought a lot, you’re passionate about the things you do. We were talking about a little bit about the industries that you’re passionate in, the areas of like CrossFit and stuff. So, you know, a person that’s driven that way and that’s sharing. I mean, you’re doing the Memorial Day Challenge for kids on Fort Payne, which is our obstacle course. That’s probably one of the best in the city, if not the best. So I can see that. I mean, giving back to the community and all that. And working with entrepreneurs, startup businesses, or even just businesses that have been around for a while, providing them with information. And you’re right. Some people, number one, either they think they can’t afford it, but they really can’t ignore it, right? Because if they’re going to grow their business, they really need to know what those numbers mean. And, you know, I mean, you’re right. Bank statement or even a QuickBook report. I mean, fine, so you can see your business is growing, you can see its profitability, but you may not see the things that are coming, which those numbers can tell you. It’s almost like being a futurist with it, right? Or being able to tell the future with numbers, if you will. And those numbers don’t lie to a degree. So giving back to the community as a business leader, as a political leader, I mean, I know that’s part of what you do. The relationships you’re building with Burn the Ships Financial, I mean, you just started out. This is your first few months in business. And you want to be able to give the feedback that you can to them. So tell me what, you know, what do you look ahead? What’s your company’s long-term goals? We’re towards the end of our interview here. So I just want to know where you think you’re going, where you want to be in a couple of years. What type of clients, what industry maybe. What do you want to be? Tell me.

00:42:24 – Alex Wright

So one of the things that I’ve done you know as I was learning about other companies that play in this space you know some of their you know limitations whether it be bandwidth or skill set. One of the things I did is I reached out to a lot of former colleagues and said hey would you be interested in going on this journey with me? Like hey, don’t quit your job but you know would you like to you know partner with me on this? And literally every person I reached out to was like, yes, I would love to do this with you. They were very excited about it. The reason that’s relevant is, it gives us a scope of skills and bandwidth that I would argue most of these other companies just don’t have because they don’t have access to these people that have worked in companies. The reason I mentioned that to your question is, some of these folks that are really you know fired up about you know doing the business initially, I was just, I’m just going to do it myself and take on four or five six customers you know that have compelling stories but as these other folks really wanted to get involved you know I’ve been rethinking that just see how things go but you know it could be that things take off and we’re able to some of these folks come on board we might you know make it a bigger plan. I just wasn’t expecting the level of response I got about how excited people wanted to do this as well. So that’s TBD, obviously. We’ll just see how that goes. But money is a very personal thing, whether it be our personal money or a business’s money. It’s really about trust. And obviously, you’ve got to build that over time. I’m anticipating, you know, it’s going to take several months where, hey, you got to inform people they have moved into this space and you’re spending a whole lot of time meeting with people and just telling them what I’m doing and, you know, getting the word out that I’m here to, you know, get involved to help people be successful. So we’re just, we’re going to have to wait and see how that goes. See what kind of growth opportunities there are. But, you know, Peachtree Corners, that’s over, I want to say about 2,500 businesses. They’re not all in the space that I’m looking to get involved in, but it’s a great location to be in, in terms of this industry.

00:44:51 – Rico Figliolini

For sure. We’re a growing city, so it’s never-ending. We’ve been speaking to Alex Wright with Burn the Ships Financial. Just started a startup of his own. A city councilman with City of Peachtree Corners here as well. Alex, I appreciate you being with us. Can you tell people where they can find more information about you, your website, your contact info?

00:45:15 – Alex Wright

Yes. So website is just like the company name, Burn the Ships Financial. We got that up a few weeks ago. And that’s probably the best place to go. It’s got my contact info and some of my partner’s contact info on there. Yeah, that’s going to have all my info. I was going to say you could go to the city website, but at this point, everything you would need would be on the company website.

00:45:46 – Rico Figliolini

In fact, on the homepage, there’s a phone number, email address, and a schedule a consultation button. So it is burntheshipsfinancial.com that you should all visit. And check out Alex Wright and his team and the services they provide. Hang with me for a second, Alex, but everyone else, thank you for joining us. Appreciate your support. Appreciate the support of evremodelinginc.com and Vox Pop Uli as well for supporting our podcast as well as the magazines and the digital work that we do, newsletters and all that, and the journalism that we produce. So thanks again to everyone. Alex, appreciate you being here. And if you all have any comments, leave it in the comment box, depending where you are. YouTube, Facebook, or just email Alex and he’ll be able to answer your questions.

Autonomous vehicles are here in Peachtree Corners!
Our latest UrbanEBB podcast explores the game-changing world of May Mobility’s driverless shuttles and their impact on urban transit. Join host Rico Figliolini as he talks with Brandon Branham (Peachtree Corners) and Daisy Wall (May Mobility) about the future of smart transportation.

Key Topics Covered:

• Peachtree Corners’ role as a Smart City and AV testing hub
• How 5G and AI are revolutionizing autonomous vehicle safety
• Situational awareness: How AVs prevent accidents before they happen
• Microtransit’s potential for underserved communities and seniors
• The future of autonomous mobility and expansion plans
• How residents can experience May Mobility’s driverless shuttles today

Resources:
May Mobility Website: https://maymobility.com/
Download the app here on Google Play and Apple

Podcast Transcript

00:00:00 – Rico Figliolini

Hey, everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of UrbanEBB here in the city of Peachtree Corners, a little smart city just north of Atlanta. I have some great guests. I’ll introduce them momentarily. I just want to say thank you, though, to two of our sponsors. EV Remodeling, Inc. Eli owns the company, him and his family. They live here in Peachtree Corners. Great people. They do design to build. If you need a room, a whole house rebuilt, they’re the people to go to. Great work. They’ve done up 260 homes. Check them out, evremodelinginc.com and Vox Pop Uli. They’re also local to Peachtree Corners, just on the edge of that city line almost. They do your branding. They will bring your branding to life. So anything that you want to do as a business, whether it’s a trade show, a truck wrap, or simply you want to put your logo or a saying on almost any object. You challenge them, they’ll be able to do it. So check them out at voxpopuli.com. And I welcome and thank them for the support of these podcasts and the magazines. Now, our guests. We’re here in Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners. This is Brandon Branham and Daisy Wall. And Brandon here is the Assistant City Manager of Peachtree Corners, as well as the Chief Technology Officer, among other things. So running Curiosity Lab and all that. And Daisy Wall here. works as senior director for May Mobility. So I welcome you guys. Thank you.

00:01:31 – Brandon Branham

And fun fact, Vox was actually who wrapped the autonomous vehicle we’ll be talking about today.

00:01:37 – Rico Figliolini

I didn’t even know that. Cool. And that looks like a great vehicle. And you may see that as part of this interview as an override video. Otherwise, check the show notes and you’ll see a gallery of images. So let’s start. How do we start? You know, this place has been here for how long?

00:01:54 – Brandon Branham

Open September of 2019.

00:01:57 – Rico Figliolini

Right, you’re doing, going on five years. We’re going to be doing that in the magazine and something about that. The autonomous vehicle lane, that’s your living lab. First in the nation, really? When it started?

00:02:11 – Brandon Branham

To do both connected and autonomous, yes.

00:02:14 – Rico Figliolini

And then five?

00:02:15 – Brandon Branham

Yeah, five years later, our journey through AV is what’s led us here today. Kind of that path of understanding the technology with that first real world deployment on public streets in 2019 with the purpose-built autonomous vehicle focusing on that low speed last mile connection. I mean as we as a city are starting to expand the service operations of that area is how we met May Mobility and launched that program in September.

00:02:45 – Rico Figliolini

Has T-mobile’s 5G network really helped getting this off the ground?

00:02:50 – Brandon Branham

Maybe let you answer that one.

00:02:52 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, obviously, as you’re running autonomous vehicles, one of the most important things is making sure the vehicle stays connected, right? Because that’s how everything operates. And so we want to make sure that there’s high performance, it’s always connected, and there’s redundancy. And so really the 5G foundation here at Peachtree Corners has been fantastic. The team has worked really closely with our engineering team to kind of figure out what different SIM cards, what different connectivity levels work best with our vehicles. And so it’s exciting to have that embedded in our vehicles. And hopefully we can scale that, you know, over time.

00:03:29 – Rico Figliolini

That’s great. I mean, I was just thinking about latency. You don’t want to be late. I’m sorry we hit you.

00:03:34 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely.

00:03:39 – Rico Figliolini

So we’ve had other vehicles too. So and for a variety of reasons different ways things are done. What makes May Mobility different than those others? Well maybe you want to start explaining?

00:03:52 – Brandon Branham

Yeah we can start kind of with our evolution through AV space. So there’s two form factors that were out on the market once we had seen originally through Curiosity Lab were purpose-built autonomous shuttle. So it didn’t have all of the features that a vehicle has, right? Because it was built with autonomy as its platform. There wasn’t a steering wheel. There wasn’t rear side mirrors, all those things you see on a traditional car. But they were really focused on that last mile connection. So average speed, 11 to 13 miles an hour. So it served well inside of the campus. And as we learned and got comfortable with the autonomous platforms. But as you need to start moving into other areas of cities, how do you start to create a microtransit scenario for service? So you have to go a little faster. And then what the challenge with the shuttles brings is because they’re not a vehicle, you actually have to get a waiver from the federal government to operate them on the road. So listen we all know that increases your time to deployment so working with May they use what’s called an fmbss standard vehicle so Toyota Sienna which fits perfect in the suburbs with us, I drive a minivan, I can say that. And so they can deploy immediately from day one because that already meets those standards from the vehicle perspective. The speed is a lot higher so now your elevation increases. Because our goal, right, is let’s connect all these hotels to the downtown, continue to feed our economic driver and use that. So we needed to go a little faster.

00:05:30 – Rico Figliolini

So it goes miles an hour now?

00:05:31 – Daisy Wall

It goes up to 35 miles an hour. Yeah. And we’ll be going to 40 miles an hour by end of this year.

00:05:37 – Rico Figliolini

That’s fairly good. That’s good for local streets.

00:05:37 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, absolutely.

00:05:40 – Rico Figliolini

You don’t want to go faster than 40 miles an hour. Especially in Roswell. In some ways it’s Roswell. So, that’s cool. So now we have the vehicle. I was in it a couple of weeks ago. It was a great ride. It was a little strange. Like my oldest son said, he works here in Tech Park. He says, Dad, seeing that car drive with no driver really is strange. And I felt strange too in the car and no driver. We’re sitting in the back. I felt like, where is this going? How is this going to go? But it was fast. I mean, it was easy. There was no problem. Left turns were great. My son, I’ll share this. I don’t know if he’ll like it or not, but he tried to test the vehicle. So he sped up a little bit to see if he would actually try to make that left turn, knowing that it was going to stop or something. But it didn’t do it. And it waited, and then it did its turn. So that was a real-life test on that street.

00:06:37 – Brandon Branham

That’s why we’re here. That’s the whole point of Curiosity Lab. What we want to do to evaluate the technology, make sure it is safe operations on our roadways. They’re not the only one that tests these vehicles. We see all kinds of fun things happening today. 

00:06:57 – Rico Figliolini

Do you get to see live feeds, by the way?

00:07:05 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely.

00:07:07 – Rico Figliolini

Live feeds as it goes to see?

00:06:59 – Brandon Branham

The operators are all sitting behind in May’s place ensuring safety.

00:07:04 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely. So the way it works is that when we run in a fully autonomous vehicle, meaning no driver. You know, you have the vehicle running, but there is someone watching the whole time. And so we do have a tele-assist person, if you will, watching the vehicles live in real time to make sure the vehicle is doing what it’s doing. And also if, you know, if they run into situations or, you know, situations, for example, you have an emergency management vehicle, right? If there’s unexpected construction. If there’s things like that where, you know, someone actually needs to keep an eye on the vehicle and help the vehicle kind of make decisions.

00:07:46 – Rico Figliolini

So the way it works almost, it’s almost Uber-ish to me, right? So I download an app and say, I want to, I need the car. Right now there’s eight points of pickup, right? Eventually the whole idea is that there shouldn’t be any points of pickup except where I want to be picked up, right? At a hotel, a restaurant, whatever. So we get in the car, if I remember correctly. The scan, the system actually scans a barcode or something off the app. And accepts you as the ride. And it’s running the AC. It’s doing its thing. What else can I do in that? Can I listen to music? Can I, you know, what else is the possibilities?

00:08:24 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, first, you know, obviously, first and foremost, we want to make sure the experience getting on and off the ride is safe. It’s easy, right? Because like you mentioned before, you know, for a first time rider, sometimes we’re like, oh, this is a little weird. And but once you’re in the vehicle, you know, the QR code is very specific. We want to make sure the right person is in the vehicle.

00:08:47 – Rico Figliolini

Right.

00:08:47 – Daisy Wall

Right? And the vehicle won’t move if it’s not the right person. It’ll just literally just sit there. And so  what we call, what you were talking about is the in cabin, you know, features and functionalities. When you enter the vehicle, you will see a big, you know, screen, a large tablet. And it allows you to really just be with the vehicle and track kind of where the vehicle is going. It allows you to see pedestrians and trucks and cars and all the things that, you know, that you would normally see as a driver, right? And need to maneuver around if you needed to. But then there’s also other features and functionalities we’re exploring, things like air conditioning, things like music, other things that we could add to make it a really great experience. But at the end of the day, it’s really odd to say it this way, we really want the experience to be boring because that’s probably the best. I mean, initially you’re like, oh, wow, this is kind of cool. And then after a while, you just start looking at your phone, you chat with your fellow rider, and then it’s kind of normalized.

00:09:47 – Rico Figliolini

I wonder how that would be, this comedy show, It’s comedians in cars or something looking for a coffee shop.

00:09:53 – Daisy Wall

There you go.

00:09:53 – Rico Figliolini

They don’t need to drive. They’re just going through the thing.

00:09:57 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely.

00:09:59 – Rico Figliolini

So, you know, I can see the future a little bit. If I could be a futurist a little bit. And this is an Uber type car. Uber Eats isn’t too far behind that. You know, drop the food in there. It’s coming by a house. You go in, you can just take it off the seat and get your food. But there’s other things I’m thinking about, too. So I’ve changed my mind now. I want to go somewhere else. Well, I need to pick up a friend. So it’s a ride share almost. These are possibilities, I imagine.

00:10:26 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely. Yeah, and we’re looking at all of these. Right now, there’s single passengers or what you call group passengers. So you can have multiple people in your own group. But we would love to do a ride share type of model where multiple people can get in and that’s actually what we do in all of our other locations. It is, yeah. We’ve, you know we’ve launched in 15 different locations we’re in nine that are active right now. And we have multiple variants of this. We have rideshare where multiple people can come in. But then also we have wheelchair accessible vehicles as well, you know, for people with disabilities. And so what we’d like to do is how do we create the same user experience as an able-bodied passenger for a person with a disability? And then also how do we do it in a way where if someone was to come in, what would that look like, right? You know, is that okay? And as I mentioned before, the good news is that we’re still kind of watching you. There are cameras in the vehicle. And we have a call button there as well. So if anyone ever needs help or needs to talk to someone, they can call the button. There’s someone who can look in the vehicle. So you’re not really quite alone, if you will.

00:11:35 – Rico Figliolini

So not a chatbot, but an actual person.

00:11:38 – Daisy Wall

An actual person, yes, yes.

00:11:40 – Rico Figliolini

What has May Mobility learned from this experience from being here? What do you expect to learn? And then what are you going to use it for?

00:11:48 – Daisy Wall

Right. Well, first, we’re really proud that this is the first driverless commercial autonomous deployment, I guess. I know that’s kind of a mouthful there, you know, in the state of Georgia. And we’re really excited about that. And we’re really appreciative that Georgia happens to be a very AV-friendly state. So that’s kind of part one. You know, part two is that, as Brandon was saying, we really want to make sure that the technology and the innovation that we’re developing is being applied and we learn from those applications. So, for example, we operate on public roads in mixed traffic conditions, pedestrians, different weather conditions. You know, in the snow and very, very hot weather. And here in Peachtree Corners, it’s kind of odd because we’re going a little reverse. It is a dedicated AV lane. And so that’s a little different than what we’ve been operating. But the beauty of that is that we’re also very cognizant that airports, you know, universities, other employment centers have a lot of need for this particular, you know, type of service. And so we’re really learning about, okay, what would a fixed route service look like? You know, there’s a lot of hills and sharp turns here, you know, that we are learning from as well. And because we’re picking up, you know, visitors from the Marriott, for example, you know, over to other office locations and City Hall, then it’s giving us an idea of, okay, well, are there any differences in terms of how people interact with a vehicle at a hotel, you know, location? So even those small things are very useful to us.

00:13:27 – Rico Figliolini

As you were saying that, I was thinking of the ability of the HOV lanes, for example. Because that’s what this is almost, right?

00:13:38 – Daisy Wall

Yeah.

00:13:39 – Rico Figliolini

And you mentioned, I think, once before on the ride that I took, that there are unique things besides the hills and stuff. The fact that it is an HOV type lane. You have to make a right or left differently in that type of environment. So it’s learning more than it would almost in the real world.

00:13:56 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely. And the other thing that’s interesting is we’re learning how other vehicles also react to us as well. So, you know, not every vehicle might notice that that’s an AV lane and they want to decide to cut across an AV. Like, how do you manage that particular situation? What do you need to do to make sure other folks on the road know that this is an AV? Or you know, how to interact with that. And it’s just good, you know, roadside safety.

00:14:24 – Rico Figliolini

It’s interesting because it’s, I mean, it could be used as an ingress, egress where that traffic goes into that lane to make that right turn maybe into the driveway.

00:14:31 – Daisy Wall

Exactly.

00:14:34 – Rico Figliolini

Brandon, as far as the vehicle and everything else, I mean, it’s been almost five years in September. This type of expansion and the type of vehicle and the type of work that you’re doing, how does this help Curiosity Lab to expand and get into other? Can you piggyback off this, can you use this?

00:14:53 – Brandon Branham

Right, yeah. And we’ve started that process a little bit with the infrastructure right? Growing it out of Tech Park into 141 as we’ve seen you know the evolution of the technology really needs those more dense volume, higher residential area. And so this right, we’ve kind of figured out the office park environment dedicated lane. But what happens like our public concerts, that’s a great use of this type of technology. All of our neighbors that are coming to the concert, they’re all driving in. We know we don’t have enough parking on site and we start to use the shuttle to do that. So we know that expansion of the technology is already here. Some of the deployments May’s doing. So how do we start to incorporate it into the city?

00:15:37 – Rico Figliolini

I was thinking about what Mayor Mike Mason said to me once. He says, you know, it’d be great for a vehicle of that sort to come into Amberfield or Fox Hill, pick us up at the house, take us to the concert, and then take us back home and not have to worry about walking, to driving, finding parking, and all that stuff. Yeah, now I could see the city really, a little smart city, North of Atlanta, being more of that technology and using more. I mean, we’re getting more LDR cameras. All the security cameras, all these other cameras. God knows how many cameras are in the car you know just by itself. Great number of cameras. But and all this data that you’re accumulating just will help grow. Now I’m assuming even the data you get from other cities is going to inform what this one does as well.

00:16:32 – Brandon Branham

Yeah, it learns from all of its environments because some things are similar. Some things are different. I mean, the deployment in Grand Rapids. Hugely different than what we’re doing here, but there’s still trees, still fire hydrants, all those roadside markers that the vehicle continues to learn from.

00:16:49 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely. And you want to be able to kind of get as much data as possible in diverse learning environments, right? Because the way the technology works, you know, from, there’s two parts of it, right? Like you said before, it’s the cameras, the sensors, all the hardware. Then you’ve got the software component, which is the brains of everything. And that’s, we call it multi-policy decision-making. So think of it like you’ve got to be making thousands and thousands and thousands of decisions in a millisecond. And so how do you make those decisions? You have to combine both what you’ve already accumulated from a knowledge perspective, but then also, you know, kind of the intelligence and the AI decision-making of like, okay, here are all the different scenarios. What’s the best one? What’s the safest one? What’s the best in terms of customer, you know, experience and smoothness, all those things.

00:17:36 – Rico Figliolini

It’s funny as you’re saying that I’m thinking, a particular event that happened where I saw this woman, woman or guy, it doesn’t matter, I’ve seen it often enough, where they’re pulling out, ready to like, they’re creeping out into the street, deciding whether they should go or not go. And I’m saying out loud to myself, don’t go because I’m coming.

00:17:50 – Daisy Wall

Right.

00:17:54 – Rico Figliolini

And they’re like playing chicken. And this happens.

00:17:56 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely.

00:17:58 – Rico Figliolini

You know, when people are exiting sometimes out of, on Peachtree Circle. Some people think they can make that left.

00:18:07 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely. It’s really interesting from a safety perspective. And I know that’s something that the city and Curiosity Lab has been really, really keen on is we get anecdotal comments all the time from our clients in other areas. So, for example, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. You know, they say, oh, you know, the vehicle’s going over there and then all of a sudden it stops. It’s what’s happening and a deer comes out, right? And so it saw the deer and so that could have, you know, avoided, you know, an accident there. And then I know that we have another location where they said that they were at a four-way intersection and then, you know, the light turned green, but the vehicle didn’t go. And everybody was honking behind the vehicle. And they’re like, why aren’t we going? And immediately a couple seconds later, there was a car that ran really fast past a red light. And so if you think about that, you know, that car, if it had gone, it would have gotten T-boned. So things of that nature. And then, you know, if it was us in the vehicle, we would be like stressed out. Someone’s honking, you know, we’re like, we better go. And we could have gone, you know, even, you know, with that, right? But the vehicle just kind of doesn’t want to break the law and just does what it’s supposed to do. It doesn’t get stressed. It doesn’t get sleepy.

00:19:23 – Brandon Branham

Not on the cell phone.

00:19:24 – Daisy Wall

It’s not on the cell phone. It hasn’t had a couple glasses of wine.

00:19:36 – Rico Figliolini

Yeah, because I know that feeling. I’ve seen that in front of me. So I usually wait a beat or two before I go for it.

00:19:44 – Daisy Wall

Right. You never know.

00:19:47 – Rico Figliolini

This maybe a tough question to ask, but how has the accident rate been? Has there been any?

00:19:55 – Daisy Wall

Well, there’s been accidents, absolutely. We’ve been operating since 2017 in 15 cities, and we operate 60 hours a week. So if you look at it from a public transit perspective, there’s going to be some. However, what we are really, really proud of, we’re proud of our safety record. Autonomous vehicles are actually very highly regulated by NHTSA. And so we are required, and not just us, any autonomous vehicle company is required to report any incident in. And when I say incident, it’s even like a mirror clip. You know, or a curb, you know, a curb cut if, you know, the system has been in autonomy for a particular, you know, amount of time. And so anyone can go in and look. And I think we have a, you know, we’re very proud of our safety record.

00:20:42 – Rico Figliolini

I’m sure. It probably is way better than a normal person. So your insurance should be a lot cheaper. So as far as the other cities you’re in, you’re all on local streets now. Wherever you are. It’s not highway driving?

00:20:59 – Daisy Wall

No, we don’t do highway driving. Yeah, because of the speeds at this point.

00:21:03 – Rico Figliolini

But do you have a plan a year out from now, what you plan to do?

00:21:06 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, we have a roadmap. And so every year we make modifications. Speed is one of the big ones, right? To get to those milestones from our roadmap. And then it’s combined with the progression or the maturity of the technology itself. You know, the LIDARs, for example, on top of the vehicles, how far they can see, for example. And then also, you know, the progression of our technology as well. But for the most part, everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve always found locations to operate in because, you know, 40 miles an hour, that’s decent. You know, there’s always areas, downtown areas, residential areas.

00:21:45 – Rico Figliolini

Speed limits are 35.

00:21:46 – Daisy Wall

35.

00:21:49 – Rico Figliolini

As far as the information, the data, so everyone’s sensitive about that to some degree. And I know data is collected in a fashion that it doesn’t tie to a specific list.

00:22:02 – Daisy Wall

Yes, yes.

00:22:03 – Rico Figliolini

But obviously, I have an app calling for a car. Does it pick up any, like, which would be interesting, I think, to know for you all as well. Will it eventually pick up the data, like demographics and such, the age of the person, where it’s being used? Will that eventually be important to how the company expands its business or how it does its business?

00:22:28 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, from our perspective, you know, there are two pieces of data that are really important to us. The fleet, what we call the fleet API data or the autonomy data, right? Because safety is most important. Whether or not data is collected, we contract directly with cities and public transit agencies. And so most cities and public transit agencies are very sensitive to this and also are required by law in some circumstances that you don’t collect the personally identifiable information. So we actually don’t.

00:23:00 – Rico Figliolini

So not even demographics like that?

00:23:02 – Daisy Wall

None of that. Yeah. Now, in the future, we don’t know. Like you said, we don’t know what the evolution could look like. But for the most part, from a government perspective, that’s something that it’s very important to government right, to protect personally identifiable information so we don’t collect that.

00:23:18 – Brandon Branham

I think that’s been the unique approach how May has entered the market versus what you see when you think of like the robo taxis where that is a shared ride first approach. Whereas May has taken the leap into the city to offset solutions in the public transportation space.

00:23:39 – Daisy Wall

And at the end of the day, it’s about filling transportation gaps, right? Because we do have two models, you know, the model that we’ve grown up with and the model that we have here is, you know, contracting directly with cities and public transit systems. What that allows us to do is really tailor our services you know, to the way that the city or the public transit system wants it tailored to, to really complement and fill in those gaps. And we have, you know, also signed a partnership with Lyft as well, which will be launching service here in Atlanta, you know, this calendar year. So we’re excited about that. But that’s another model. And we know that that’s also a needed model.

00:24:19 – Rico Figliolini

That’s going to be in the city?

00:24:22 – Daisy Wall

Yes, in the city. And if you think about all the things that Atlanta brings, you know, and the economic development of the city and the overflow that that comes into Peachtree Corners, too. I mean, we have FIFA coming. We have the Super Bowl coming. We have Dragon Con every year. Right? So those are all big events where we can see the vehicles really providing meaningful service.

00:24:48 – Rico Figliolini

You all also did just a recent agreement with a, what’s the name of the company? It’s a… 

00:24:53 – Brandon Branham

TechnoBus?

00:24:55 – Daisy Wall

TechnoBus. Yes, yes.

00:24:57 – Rico Figliolini

That’s also doing disability, accessibility, but being used in cities where I think it’s 20 passengers.

00:25:05 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, no, great. So obviously, again, the use case is the most important, right? We want to match the right vehicle with the right use case. So if you need to, for example, you know, service an airport, you know a bus of that size, which is, you know, up to 30 standing, 16, you know, sitting, for example, is a great use case. And also there’s other benefits too. You know, it’s got the accessibility component. This particular bus actually is running in Europe already with public transit agencies in, you know, 40, 50 different cities. So what we like, we love about that, we say it’s a workhorse. Very similar to what Brandon was saying. We know it’s running in public cities. It has done its job. So now we just need to autonomize it, if you will, and make it run without a driver.

00:25:57 – Rico Figliolini

I don’t want to stereotype, but European drivers are crazy. Especially if you go to Italy, where my heritage is.

00:26:05 – Daisy Wall

And it is, believe it or not, actually, TechnoBus is an Italian company.

00:26:12 – Rico Figliolini

That makes sense. But everyone in an autonomous vehicle gets less accidents.

00:26:15 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, but we are very grateful. I mean, they’re wonderful partners. And we actually are very fortunate to have a lot of wonderful partners in Toyota, you know, in State Farm, in, you know, a whole bunch of NTT, a whole bunch of other, you know, investors and partners.

00:26:28 – Rico Figliolini

And I can see that as better use in Atlanta than the trolley system they just put out recently, right? It’s a lot less infrastructure, right, to put. You can just run these things and set around, it goes. Yeah, way more efficient than that. What else can Curiosity Lab learn from this partnership that you think that, because you’ve been to the CES show, you’ve been to Israel, to other countries, trying to bring business here. So how can you use this to work?

00:27:01 – Brandon Branham

Yeah, as we think of not just us, but all of our cities that we work with across the U.S., how are these new technologies going to shape the future of our cities? They’re going to play a role. So why is, why does the city not stand in the front of that and support it. So learning how they operate what are some of our limitations? It is still new technology relatively speaking so there are going to be some limits on what you can do with it and how do we overcome them which we’re seeing here and then we translate that to our partners that we work with in Texas and Colorado and Arizona hey let’s share in this.

00:27:38 – Rico Figliolini

Do you share?

00:27:40 – Brandon Branham

We do yeah. We all said it’s a very awesome group that we get together and we share what’s going on, share the ideas. Hey this worked, this didn’t, I saw this, what are you seeing here? Because in the end we all want a better service for the resident. Whether that’s here in Peachtree Corners, in Atlanta, in Colorado, in Texas. So and all of these technologies help us do that. So for us, you know councilman Wright, he’s a big proponent of AV. So we have to be looking forward on how these start to service the residents because you don’t take public transportation now because it’s not convenient.

00:28:12 – Rico Figliolini

No, it’s not.

00:28:13 – Brandon Branham

Right? So can we supplement with these types of technologies to start to make that convenient and maybe take a few cars off the roadway when we’re going shopping or going to downtown? This is our chance.

00:28:24 – Rico Figliolini

And I think, like, Gwinnett County is talking to get into microtransit, which is pretty much your vehicles can be used.

00:28:33 – Daisy Wall

It’s exactly what it is, yeah. It’s a, you know, there’s different models, right, to Brandon’s point. You know, public transit, like we have here in, you know, Peachtree Corners and in Gwinnett County, we have a, you know, a fantastic partner, you know, on the public transit side. But, you know, it’s normal as cities grow. And as, you know, there’s more economic development, what ends up happening is that you want to make sure that those pockets are filled and those gaps are filled. And sometimes, you know, public transit may not get there fast enough or may need help, you know, where we can supplement and connect into public transit. And that’s where microtransit is. That’s the beauty of it is that you get to your point. Like a rideshare TNC type of service where you can pull up an app and ask to go wherever you know so you can get really shorter wait times and more convenient service.

00:29:22 – Rico Figliolini

The future’s almost here. 

00:29:26 – Brandon Branham

I’d say it’s here.

00:29:27 – Daisy Wall

It’s here. It’s here.

00:29:30 – Rico Figliolini

And thinking about that, too, and thinking about COVID, what that did to people. Because I know quite a few people that some of them still wear masks, some of them still don’t like crowds, and these types of micro transits would be beneficial to them. 

00:29:45 – Daisy Wall

Absolutely.

00:29:45 – Rico Figliolini

Or even seniors that can’t get around. If it gets there.

00:29:48 – Daisy Wall

A lot of our locations, you know, seniors are our heaviest riders in a lot of ways, which is quite interesting. A lot of people think, oh, well, seniors really take it. But if you think about it, seniors in a lot of ways need it the most, you know, because there’s sometimes mobility challenges. And, you know, instead of having to rely on loved ones all the time, this is a great opportunity to provide more, you know, independence for them.

00:30:11 – Rico Figliolini

I think there’s a stereotype out there that they don’t do that, but they’re probably on iPads way more than their kids.

00:30:15 – Brandon Branham

Yes, they are.

00:30:17 – Daisy Wall

Oh, yeah. And they give us great feedback.

00:30:23 – Rico Figliolini

Anything that we forgot, we’re getting towards the end of our conversation. So anything that you want to share?

00:30:29 – Brandon Branham

I would just encourage our residents to come out, take a ride, experience it, get comfortable with the technology.

00:30:36 – Rico Figliolini

Cool. Where can they download the app?

00:30:38 – Daisy Wall

Yep. So you just go online and you can pull up a May Mobility app and then you find it and then just download it and you’ll see, you know, Peachtree Corners in there. Wherever you are, if you’re in the area, you can pretty much, you know, call up a vehicle to any of our eight stop locations.

00:30:54 – Rico Figliolini

Technology Parkway.

00:30:56 – Daisy Wall

Yeah. Yes.

00:30:58 – Rico Figliolini

Which runs from the, what used to be Anderby’s, which is close to the…

00:31:08 – Brandon Branham

Spalding Drive.

00:31:10 – Rico Figliolini

Spalding Drive. Thank you. Norcross High School, Wesleyan is right on that corner. All the way down to the Marriott. So check that out. Guys, I appreciate you being with us. This was a great conversation. Thank you. I love being here at Curiosity Lab. Just more to come, right?

00:31:19 – Daisy Wall

Yeah, thanks so much.

00:31:21 – Rico Figliolini

And thank you to our sponsors again, EV Remodeling, Inc. and Vox Pop Uli. I appreciate you guys supporting us. Thank you so much.