Things tend to get a little kooky around Halloween, which the world celebrated this week, and the news around work was a bit discombobulated too. Our eighty-something president laid down an executive order regarding AI regulation, labor unions struck a big blow to The Big Three, and LinkedIn cuddled up to frenemies like Beamery, Eightfold, and Radancy. Plus, OnlyFans-inspired dismissals strike the same school twice, and an epic duel of Who'd Ya' Rather pitting Yourco's David against Traba's Goliath. The boys even throw in some KFC rejection letter entertainment, brought to you by social media, and the demise of WeWork. Thanks, internet!
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION sponsored by:
Intro: Hide your kids. Lock the doors. You're listening to HR's most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are here to punch the recruiting industry right where it hurts. Complete with breaking news, brash opinion, and loads of snark. Buckle up, boys and girls. It's time for the Chad and Cheese Podcast.
[music]
Joel: Oh yeah. Two guys just waiting around for a Frankie Goes To Hollywood reunion tour. What's up, kids? You're listening to the Chad and Cheese Podcast. I'm your co-host, Joel, relax, Cheesman.
Chad: And this is Chad Hot for teacher Sowash.
Joel: And on this episode, LinkedIn goes deep.
[laughter]
SFX: Just the tip.
Joel: Biden takes on AI, and somewhere, Jimmy Hoffa is smiling. Let's do this.
Chad: Happy Post Halloween.
Joel: Post Halloween. What is Portugal Halloween like?
Chad: It's not the same, but here it's not a door to door thing. The kids, we've got two schools that are here in our little village of Cabanes. During lunch, they actually do like a little parade downtown, and they come into the different cafes and restaurants and whatnot. And then that's when they get candy and whatnot, so that all the people that are there, they give them stuff. That was really cool. So did you have a good flow of kids looking for full size Kit Kats?
Joel: Decent flow. I'm curious, do the kids do a parade or is it the adults or the community?
Chad: Yeah. The kids do a parade.
Joel: So the kids are just parading around the street. Okay, that's interesting.
Chad: They come to the streets, they go do their thing from business to business instead of coming to your door.
Joel: That's a fat Tuesday for a bunch of kids [laughter] asking for beads. I mean, candy.
Chad: Margarita, here you go.
Joel: It was fine here. It snowed. It snowed, which whatever.
Chad: Really?
Joel: That's a thing. Yeah. So that meant hot cider with plenty of Jack Daniels...
Chad: Which you have plenty of.
Joel: In that. Yeah. [laughter] Jeremy is six. I got a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old. Here's the breakdown. 17-year-old went to his girlfriend's house, did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre outfit...
Chad: Nice. Good for him.
Joel: Which was really good. He actually had a real chainsaw with no chain on it. He went all out. [laughter] Wore a tie for the first time in his life, I think, had the fake blood.
Chad: My God.
Joel: My 14-year-old was too cool for school, didn't do anything, which was kind of a bummer. And then the 6-year-old, he was a Pokemon character I don't even know. Went to his friend's house. And the kids, the problem with 6-year-olds, they do an all-out sprint for like 30 minutes, to as many houses as they can. And then it's like, crash and burn the last hours, like kids throwing shoes at each other, candy at other people, tears, "I'm gonna sit down and meltdown." And then it's like, "Fuck it, let's go home." We do the whole thing with the candy at the door. My wife being the fun police is like, "Only take one." [chuckle] And then we have a ton of candy left 'cause everybody just takes one...
Chad: Oh, Canadians.
Joel: 'Cause they're scared to death, I guess. Yeah, Canadians. Yeah, yeah. Socialism on Halloween is always fun. But it was great. [laughter] It's nice 'cause I have a young kid. The older kids are done, but I get to travel back in time and re-experience Halloween with a 6-year-old.
Chad: I had a new experience. We went to a Halloween party in Tavira. Julie and I went to... We dressed up as a goth couple, which I've never been in my life, and I wore... [laughter] I painted my fingernails for the very first time. Have you ever had your fingernails painted?
Joel: I can't say that I've had my fingernails painted. No, that sounds...
Chad: Well, being a girl dad, a lot of dads have their girls paint their fingernails, paint their toenails, that kind of thing. Emma was never really into that. She was soccer or softball, that kind of thing, so that never happened. So this is the first time I've ever had my fingernails painted, and I thought, oh, this is really cool. And it was good with the costume. The next day, it just bothered the shit out of me. I don't know why. It was so foreign and alien. [laughter] So, anyway.
Joel: We have cardboard Chad, we have Euro Chad, and now we have Goth Chad. I don't know.
Chad: Not a keeper. Not a keeper.
Joel: I think it's a step too far, in my opinion. A step too far in my opinion.
Chad: Mine too, mine too.
Joel: Well, we got a lot of the show to cover, so...
SFX: Shoutout.
Chad: Excellent. I'm gonna go straight into Halloween shoutouts. So this is for... Shoutouts to Halloween treats. That's right. Thanks to Elena, Abby, and the Skill Scout team for sending Julie and I a Halloween movie night at home, I'm sure you got one too, an Amazon gift card for a free movie rental. I thought that was really cool. They gave us a... We didn't get a trick, we got a treat.
SFX: All right. All right. All alright.
Joel: Okay. So I had another shoutout, and then a news story crossed the desk and it got replaced. So aside from family, Chad, I have two framed pictures in my office. One is an autographed Larry Bird photo, and the other is a signed Bobby Knight picture. The General passed last night. We're recording this on a Thursday. So, as a kid from the Midwest who was a Teen Hoops junkie, coach Knight was godlike for me, won a championship at Ohio State, West Point, three National Championships, the last undefeated season for a major school, Olympic Gold medal. When college kids actually played, he coached Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, all those guys from way back in the day.
Chad: He has accolades.
Joel: He's got a resume. He's got a resume. Now, it's complicated. It's complicated as many famous people's resumes are. So minutes after the announcement, my dad calls me, he's holding back tears, asking if I had heard the news. Really impacted my dad who's the same age as Bobby Knight. My dad was a coach in Indiana, which you and I both had coaches who thought they were Bobby Knight, who wanted to be Bobby Knight. He's a dying breed. We'll never see another one like him again. One of the first books I ever read that I remember was A Season on the Brink about the '83 season. If you haven't read that, I recommend it. Again, he was a complicated personality, but for me, his attributes far outweighed his negatives. His past players largely love him. He will be missed and impacted my life in a big way. Shoutout to the General Robert Montgomery Knight. Rest in peace.
[laughter]
Chad: Sounds like a confederate General Robert Montgomery Knight. The next shoutout is almost a Cheesman shoutout. You're gonna love this, because this is about KFC.
SFX: I happy.
Chad: KFC rejections. So on the socials, [chuckle] I saw a screenshot of a KFC job application rejection letter, which read like this, "Thank you for your application to team KFC. We're cluckin' delighted [laughter] you're keen to join the flock. However, at this moment in time, your skills aren't the secret recipe the Colonel is looking for. But we'd love to hear from you again. Give us a cluck if you would like to apply in the future. Best wishes, team KFC, Dublin." Which was followed by the user's posted comment, "Getting a rejection email with multiple fried chicken related puns is a new low for me."
[laughter]
Joel: Here we go.
[laughter]
Chad: Shoutout to KFC.
Joel: That escalated quickly.
Chad: They do great on Twitter, not so great on rejection letters.
Joel: Oh, just give me a coupon for a Chicken Little. That's all I want. Just give me a coupon. You don't have to go through all the hoops.
Chad: I want a bucket.
Joel: Don't need all the hoop. Well, yeah, if you're gonna throw in a bucket, then some biscuits and gravy too. So my second shoutout, last one. So rest in peace to the General. Rest in peace, apparently, to WeWork. WeWork is planning to file for bankruptcy as early as next week. They had a net long-term debt of 2.9 billion.
Chad: Wow.
Joel: And over 13 billion in long-term leases as of June of this year. In case you missed it, WeWork was once valued at $47 billion back in 2019. Now, that number is well under $100 million. Meanwhile, a dozen large office leasing deals in Manhattan this week, ranging up to 250,000 square feet each are nearing completion by the end of the year. Pundits say these deals show signs of recovery for the Manhattan office leasing market. The end of WeWork, the beginning of a new boom in commercial real estate. I think this may be another nail in the coffin of the work-from-home movement, unfortunately.
Chad: Possibly. And at this point, I don't know why Adam Neumann is not in leg irons, for God's sakes. Jesus, talk about stealing.
Joel: He just got a ton of money from Andreessen. He's got a new startup. It's just crazy.
Chad: What fucking idiots. I mean, what idiots. Anyway. [chuckle] Things that people do love is free stuff. That's right. T-shirts from JobGet.
Joel: Oh yeah.
Chad: Beer from Aspen Tech Labs. Love those guys. Whiskey, two bottles of whiskey. One from Joel, one from me, from Textkernel. And if it's your birthday, kids, yep, I got one of these handy, it's Rum with Plum. So if you go to chadcheese.com/free, register so you could prospectively win all of that.
SFX: Do you feel the tension in the air right now? I know I can. I can feel it all the way down in my plums.
Joel: That's right. By the way, some of the names connected to this month's winnings. Bourbon goes to Monica Evje, friend of the show. Saw her at HR Tech. Beer goes to Nicole Adamson, who I posted on LinkedIn. She texted back, "This is the best text I've ever gotten in my life." [laughter] That's what we're doing here on this show, we're creating miracles and spreading love.
Chad: Changing lives.
Joel: And one of our interview favorites, Andrea Derler won the Rum with Plum. So, it was her birthday. More birthdays from this week go out to Elizabeth Hill, Dale Grand, Graham Ferguson, Louis Gleaner, Jarvis Carell, David Roddy, David Yorg, Eric Clemens, Kayla Campbell, Libby Sartain, and Shally Steckerl. Those are our...
Chad: Nice.
SFX: Happy birthday.
Joel: Another trip around the Sun for some fans of Chad and Cheese.
Chad: A lot of Europeans in that list.
Joel: Let's get to travel.
Chad: A lot of Europeans on the list. Our event's sponsored by Shaker Recruitment Marketing, kids. That's right, Shaker Recruitment Marketing. Wherever we go, the sex goes with us. That's right. The sex, the sexiness of Shaker Recruitment Marketing. So I'm going to be at TA Tech in London, December 4th through the 6th. If you are in London, if you're close to London, if you're even, I don't know, contiguous states, I don't know, in Europe, you need to be in London at TA Tech. It's gonna be a good few days. Go to chadcheese.com/events. You can register there. I'm gonna be MCing with Kirsty Kelly and there are gonna be a long list of people that you wanna sit down and listen to, not to mention have drinks with. So come see us, chadcheese.com/events.
Joel: Europeans love us. How much do they love us?
Chad: They do.
Joel: Almost as much as the Minnesotans, which brings us to an update from Minneapolis. [laughter] That's right, kids. You know the European show. You remember the Recruitment Marketing show, the Cult Brand Series. We got a new one coming, Chad.
Chad: Yes.
Joel: It's the Chad and Cheese Podcast Does Data. We're partnering with Toby Dayton from LinkUp. These guys are producing just kick ass in-depth numbers around employment, what the Fed is saying, what ADP is saying, et cetera. They got their own numbers. Wall Street's finest are tapped into this data. We're gonna talk to Toby once a month, figure out what's going on, bring it to the people, give it in terms that everyone understands. And I, for one, I'm really excited because I watch CNBC and Bloomberg, [laughter] and some of these commentary on the numbers is really confusing, and I'm not quite sure, I'm Googling stuff. I'm excited to have Toby on the show to kind of straighten us out and get us on a level playing field with some of Wall Street's finest.
Chad: Yes. And just so that everybody knows out there, remember we're on YouTube and this is going to be a YouTube exclusive. That's right. It's not gonna come out on the audio. We got way too much content that's happening there as it is. Plus you wanna see Toby and you wanna see the charts and graphs that he's going to be going over every single month. So as soon as the jobs data comes out, which is on a Friday, that next Monday, we're going to do the show so that next week, you're going to get that wrap up of the Chad and Cheese Does Data with our friend, Toby Dayton.
Joel: Yep. That's youtube.com@chadcheese. Subscribe so you don't miss an episode. I'm excited, almost excited as Chad...
[music]
Joel: About a little fantasy football update. I'm moving up the charts, baby, and I'm excited. But here's our leaderboard again. FactoryFix sponsors our addiction to fantasy football. Number one goes to, again, Michelle Obama Sargent. She is kicking ass...
Chad: Killing it.
Joel: Seven in one, I think is her record. Yeah, just killing it.
Chad: Fuck, yes.
Joel: Number two, Marcy Malware. Number three, Joe Mason Dixon Line. [laughter] Number four, Jasper the friendly Ghost Banjart. Number five, Dina Plum promotion Perro. Dina got promoted at Plum this week, so another congratulatory...
Chad: Very nice.
Joel: Message for her in that. Yes, we are plummed out today. If you're not watching on YouTube, you gotta check it out. Following her is Dean Blizzard of Ossner. That's right. That's an Ozzy Osborne reference. Number seven, King of the Jill Patterson. Number eight, Joel Osteen Cheesment, or Joel Ostint? Osteen. Osteen, yes.
Chad: Osteen, yeah.
Joel: Number nine, Chad not-just-a-country-in-Africa Sowash. Number 10, Brent Spinerlosey. Number 11, Dennis Tupper Lake. Number 12, Kristen Urband in the USA. And that is...
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Joel: The leaderboard of Chad and Cheese. And that brings us to... Oh my God, we got more.
SFX: Layoffs.
Joel: That's right. Some layoffs. This is a quick one 'cause we're gonna talk about it on the European show next week. So, tune in for that. But Germany's StepStone announced this week that it was laying off roughly "215" employees or about 5% of the company's 4,200 strong workforce. StepStone, a huge influential company there in Europe. So we will definitely talk about that. But that's a decent chunk of people whose lives will be impacted...
Chad: It certainly is.
Joel: Those are layoffs.
[music]
SFX: Topics.
Joel: Alright, let's get political. President Biden has issued an executive order aimed at addressing the threats posed by artificial intelligence. The order seeks to prevent the misuse of AI for developing destructive weapons and supercharged cyber attacks. It also calls on Congress to pass data privacy legislation. The executive order establishes regulations such as requiring AI companies to conduct safety tests and share the results with the federal government. Industry standards, including watermarks for AI-enabled products, were introduced to enhance transparency. Government agencies will implement changes in their use of AI with a focus on addressing racial bias and civil rights abuses. Chad, your thoughts on Biden's executive order?
Chad: Yeah, so it's really interesting as I start going through it to glean it. And there's a lot that's been written on this in a very short amount of time. I I think we should bring some people on the regulatory side of the house in so we can start talking a little bit more about this. It seems like we're always talking about this, but it's important. We're starting to catch up, I think, slowly to Europe who's really been aggressive. I mean, they were back early this year starting to formulate what they wanted to do around AI and being able to create guardrails. A couple of different points in the executive order. 7.3, which is strengthening AI and civil rights in the broader economy. So within the next year of the date of the order, they want to prevent unlawful discrimination from AI used for hiring.
Chad: The Secretary of Labor shall publish guidance for the federal contractors, which we actually talked about before. What was the easiest way to make sure that this shit starts happening? Whether it's anything, I don't care if it's bias, it's AI with bias, you go after the federal contractors first 'cause they're the ones taking money from the federal government. They have higher standards that they have to meet, and it just makes sense. So that's one of the things that they're doing, but they're also looking at, which I thought was interesting and smart, increasing AI talent in the government. They actually are starting to put together a plan which will focus on... We all say small government's good. Not everybody does, but in this case, we need more boots on the ground, AI boots on the ground for governments.
Chad: So they're looking at actually trying to build AI teams in all the different segments of government. I think that is incredibly important and smart. And then as the AP article says, we looked at social media and we allowed it to go unfettered, which fucked us. And it's continuing to, and we're starting to see, whether they're intended consequences or unintended consequences, it doesn't matter. They're still fucking consequences. We need to try to skate to the puck on this one. We need to look around corners. We need to try to figure out how this can be best used and how it could prospectively be used for evil. And that was one of the things that Biden was focused on. What can we do on the good side and how can we protect against the bad, deep fake kind of shit that will... It will happen.
Joel: The road to hell is paved with good intentions, someone once told me.
Chad: Always is.
Joel: I was interested, you mentioned some pros and comments. Our buddy Ryan Steelberg at Veritone, CEO and President, posted on LinkedIn, "President Biden's recent AI executive order marks a significant step towards a future where AI becomes inseparable from ethical and responsible considerations rather than just a technological advancement. You talked about social media, you talked about... You should have talked about the internet. The internet for a lot was like, "Let it go, baby. Let it roll. Let it roll. See how the chips fall."
Chad: Try to herd those fucking cats. Jesus.
Joel: Obviously, that was a difficult one. Now, the internet's obviously more global than just the US, and I feel that AI is similar. We're in a political year. A year from this month, we'll be electing a new President. Biden's favorables aren't great. He's entrenched in two wars. He's entrenched in some inflationary issues, and so things are challenging. The political cynic in me says, what's the political reason to this? I think to take Big Tech to task, Google... Look, that's who this is going to impact; Google, Amazon, Microsoft. And they've been under pressure in terms of free speech and regulation. So I don't know if it's like a work-around with what he thinks the Republicans will do on Big Tech. I worry about how much teeth this is going to have. You mentioned federal contracts, so there is some precedent to say, hey, if you're doing work with the federal government, these are regulations you're going to have to deal with. But I don't know, is Congress going to finance this? Are they going to pass laws around this? Is there a new department that's going to be created, the AI regulation department?
Joel: The CEO from Workday was quoted as saying, this is going to be a tremendous amount of work, a cost to us to provide data and report back to the government. And you're going to hear that more and more. But smaller businesses, are they shielded from reporting? There's a lot of stuff to be worked out around this. And at the end of the day, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea do not have to abide by any of these regulations. So, that concerns me. Are we going to hinder our development of AI while they run wild with it and innovate beyond what we're doing? So I think it's a great first step. I think it's some great bully pulpit setting the stage for what we should be and how we should be looking at AI. I just think the devil's in the details on this. How is it going to be played out? Who's going to be put under scrutiny of this? How are they going to report to it? What's it going to cost? Who's going to finance this? Who's going to actually police?
Joel: Because in talks with our buddy Keith Sonderling at EEOC, if you don't have the money and the resources, it's really hard to regulate and take people to tasks. And even if they do, you and I ongoing conversationally talk about, wow, that was coins in the couch cushions kind of fees, right? So are there going to be real teeth around punishments around AI abuses? Are there going to be people in orange jumpsuits? These things all have to play out. I think the rhetoric was great. Everyone seems to be behind it, I just think, externally, and the details around this are going to be really hard to iron out. We're just going to have to wait to see what it looks like. But it's a great first step.
Chad: Yeah. I think the interesting thing is you talked about Biden's favorability rating. The only ones lower are, I think, Trump's and Congress. And Congress has the shittiest fucking favorability rating that's out there. We're not entrenched in two wars. We are funding, but we're not actually losing American lives. So watch your rhetoric around that, if you would, please. The two segments of AI is incredibly important. And I think you're right, but I think these aren't two things that happen together. First and foremost, China is already creating guardrails around their own AI for their own society. Now, for the other society, the way that they attack from a defensive and/or from an offensive standpoint, they're going to have entirely different rules for that. And I think we will as well. So I don't think this is going to hamper us at all. And all of those companies who are making record profits and they want to make more money off of AI, well, these are the things that you have to do to ensure that it happens without having a Cambridge Analytica moment. I mean, these are all the things that we have to do to stay responsible. We can't just do this in an unfettered way. So yeah, I get it. Companies don't want to spend more money, but they want to make more money using the AI. Well, you're going to have to spend money to be able to make money. That's all there is to it.
Joel: So I'll backtrack my entrenched statement and say, divided over two fronts, I guess. I'm curious, politically, do you think there's a reason to do this politically?
Chad: The AI piece?
Joel: Yeah, to come out with a statement and to take sort of the lead role on regulations around AI. Do you think that was politically motivated or no?
Chad: I don't think there is from a political standpoint. I think there is just from the standpoint of social responsibility. It's our responsibility and it's our government's responsibility to take care of the citizenry, which did not happen on the social media side of the house or the internet side of the house. We didn't look to try to get around the corners. We just thought, "Oh, wow, this is a really cool toy we get to play with." I'm sure there are some political angles, but getting the president to do an executive order means it's incredibly important to him because he shouldn't be doing this. The Congress should be doing it. The problem is our Congress right now is in total, complete disarray.
Joel: Yeah. I mean, we're just now starting to talk about social media and regulating kids, and it's 15 years hence of social media. Longer than that, but... So how long is this going to take? Geez.
Chad: I don't know, man.
Joel: And based on what I'm hearing in terms of how fast AI will ramp up in terms of being smarter and smarter and smarter, I don't know if government can keep up. It'll be interesting to watch.
Chad: Yeah. Well, and we also had one... A Google executive said that general AI is within five years, which is fucking crazy, because we're talking about sentient AI. The generative AI that we're dealing with right now, nothing, nothing compared to what general AI is going to look like.
Joel: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Well, from one AI bully to another, I don't know if that was the right transition or not, but let's talk about LinkedIn. They're launching a new hiring integration called CRM Connect set to be available in early 2024. This integration connects LinkedIn recruiter with candidate relationship management systems to simplify and streamline the recruiting process. It allows for sharing of data between these systems while respecting LinkedIn's members' data privacy settings, or so they say. The integration is launching with partners like Avature, Beamery, Clinch, your favorite Eightfold, JobVite, and Radancy, enhancing efficiency for LinkedIn recruiter seat holders who use these particular CRMs. CRM Connect promises to reduce the time spent switching between systems, provide recruiters with accurate and up-to-date candidate insights, and improve the ability to nurture candidates effectively by centralizing the information. Chad, this is not just the tip, this is LinkedIn going deep.
SFX: Just the tip.
[chuckle]
Joel: What are your thoughts?
Chad: It seemed interesting just from a connectivity standpoint, but what's the best way, as they say in the article, to "reduce time switching across systems? What's the best way to do that? The best way is to become the fucking system. So I don't think this is a technical exercise with partners because it feels more like an audition. Seriously, we all know that LinkedIn is like crack for recruiters. So, build out the CRM functionality or just acquire one that you've already connected with so that you can expand WalletShare for a more robust offering. So, while auditioning, keep your competition close, pull in their massive datasets, and maybe even unleash a little Open AI to the data to better understand aggregate recruiter behaviors, messaging, and anything else that you think the LLMs might be able to dig into. So no, I don't believe this is purely about connecting to Avature, Beamery, Clinch, JobVite, and Radancy. I think this is an audition. And I do have a funny follow-up here. I was speaking to a friend of mine about this to see what they thought about it, and they had one comment; "Eightfold is the Theranos of talent acquisition in a complete laughing stock. Plus, Beamery has no future ahead." So apparently, they don't think Eightfold or Beamery have a chance in hell in making the LinkedIn Microsoft team through this audition.
SFX: 60% of the time, it works every time.
Joel: So you think this is an audition for an acquisition?
Chad: Yes.
Joel: Essentially. Okay. All right. I'll take that a little bit, but spin it in this way. LinkedIn's new CRM Connect product is both defensive and offensive. It's defensive because they see CRMs as a threat to attention, and thus a competitor to their business that wants you to be on LinkedIn all the time. They want to keep you there, making all your CRM data available, and LinkedIn accomplishes that. To me, that's a no-brainer. They should have done that a long time ago. However, I do think this is offensive. You think it's an audition. I think it may be just a straight-up theft that we're looking at. [laughter] Remember the API playbook. Give third parties access to your platform, learn all about them, then shut them down by launching a competing product. LinkedIn used to make access to profiles pretty easy, then they throttled it, then they killed it. Then companies like HiQ who wanted to scrape the data got sued into oblivion. If you think the same thing or something similar isn't happening here, then I've got a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you. Partner with LinkedIn at your own risk. Buy is definitely an option, but so is, let's just make it ourselves once we understand what customers want, what they're using, what they search for. You're going to open the kimono, LinkedIn's going to get a good view, and they're going to crush you. Or at least, that's the playbook, I think.
Chad: I just don't think... We just saw LinkedIn, they just had a layoff, so they're starting to come down. I think from a resource standpoint, especially when you're the size of LinkedIn, you don't build something like this. You go ahead and you see, much like marketplaces that we talk about with applicant tracking systems, you see which ones work the best, which ones get the best traction and the best data flow that you can have back and forth. I think this is a pure audition for an acquisition play. But I agree, there's definitely an offensive-defensive mode that's here. I think, to me, when they put this article out and I was reading it, I'm like, I'm reading between the lines here. There's a lot not being said.
Joel: Did it surprise you as much as it did me that SeekOut in some form or fashion was not included in this integration?
Chad: No, that's a good point. I didn't even think about that. That is a very good point, especially when it comes to the data and the tech and obviously Anoop's connection.
Joel: The relationship.
Chad: Yeah, Anoop's connection with Microsoft. Yeah.
Joel: Yeah. I don't know if that bodes well for SeekOut, but either way, LinkedIn is dangerous and beware. Beware, kids. We'll be right back. It's crack.
Joel: Chad, how about a game of, who'd you rather?
Chad: Yes!
Joel: You know how we play the game, kids. We talk about two companies that have recently gotten funding, and then Chad and I will tell you who we'd rather. Well, in this first corner, we have Miami-based Traba. They've secured $22 million in funding in a round led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Many of you will know the name, Peter Thiel, and if not, go watch The Social Network. Traba focuses on the light industrial staffing sector and focuses on challenges like outdated processes and low fill rates. They report a 99% fill rate and less than a day to fill open positions with above minimum wage average pay. The latest investment brings total funding to $43.6 million and positions the company for nationwide expansion. They employ 75 people. And in the opposing corner, Yourco, an Indianapolis-based startup, has secured $2 million in seed funding. The round was led by Ground Game Ventures with Ground Game Venture's managing partner and friend of the pod, Aman Brar, joining Yourco's board of directors.
Joel: Yourco offers a text messaging platform for employers to communicate with non-desk employees such as those without work-related email accounts. The funding will be used to hire engineering and marketing staff. They employ 10 people. So Chad, I love a good David versus Goliath. Who'd you rather? So who'd you rather between Yourco and Traba?
Chad: So Traba feels like a localized model of FactoryFix. Obviously, they're going to expand out nationwide, but they feel kind of FactoryFix-ish. And you know how much we love the boys over at factory fix. So trying to fill light industrial roles quickly can be performed faster than using staffing agencies. And I think that that is the big key, and that's their big market advantage. Yourco is a very, very young company, no question. But at this point, they're nothing more than just a basic platform feature. They're not a business. Communication is big, but this is one aspect of a platform that needs to wrap into technology like a Traba or factory fix, which connects you to your current staff and/or the external marketplace. So I see companies like Traba and FactoryFix are the future of staffing, because as I said earlier, it's about speed of identifying, notifying, and filling shifts, which is why I would Traba all day.
SFX: What are you doing, step bro?
Joel: All right. So this is almost a who'd you rather between Peter Thiel and Aman Brar, who we love, by the way.
Chad: I would not go that far, 'cause I would have picked Aman.
Joel: Peter Thiel has companies like Facebook, PayPal, Stripe, Reddit, Quora and the like in his portfolio, so that's pretty tough...
Chad: That's a little bit of money.
Joel: To go against. Aman is great at bootstrapping companies and then flipping them for 10X for a reasonable amount, à la his company, Canvas, who was acquired by JobVite. So while I think they're both going to be winners and I want to go with the home team from Indianapolis, I think if I want to make a billion dollars, I'm going to go with Thiel. If I want to make $25 million, I'm going to go with Aman. So while I'd rather both of them, I think that the money, Chad, is going to win out, and I'm going to go with Traba. All right. That is another episode of, Who'd you rather? Now, let's get into some union news. The United Auto Workers or the UAW as the kids call them have struck a deal with Detroit automakers. The agreement includes significant benefits for UAW members, such as a 25% compounded raise over four and a half years, increased 401k company contributions, and enhanced profit sharing bonuses. The contracts also include an immediate 11% raise and massive pay increase for those lowest paid workers. Temps hired this year, for example, will see a 150% wage increase over the four and a half years of the contract.
Joel: This is happening in light of recent news around pay transparency laws saying the growth of advertized wages for new hires is slowing and even reversing with some companies now posting lower pay ranges and around 30% to 40% of employers not complying with laws requiring salary ranges at all. Chad, what are your thoughts on the news from Detroit and the pay transparency update?
Chad: So I really feel like it's finally the time of the worker.
Joel: Oh, do you?
SFX: I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore."
[chuckle]
Chad: So we've endured four decades of bullshit economic policies where the dollar stayed in the ivory tower and didn't trickle down. We have assholes like Josh Berson and Johnny Taylor driving anti-work sentiment, saying companies will go out of business as the C-suite and their boards buy more vacation homes and yachts and their compensation grows by 1500% compared to the people on the front fucking lines actually doing the work, getting 18%. So the UAW is striking a narrative that is counter to the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps narrative that we got suckered into back in the Gen X days, because it's fucking hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you can't afford fucking boots. We're also seeing, which is really cool, outside of GM, Ford and Stellantis, that Kaiser Permanente, CVS, Walgreens, Mack trucks, they're all starting to strike as well because they're seeing what is happening here, and that, again, they're mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. That, to me, is exciting.
Chad: On the pay transparency side of the house, I watched the interview and I read some of the articles around this and they're talking about, "Oh, pay transparency isn't working." No, dumb asses. Companies are just pulling down... It's a negotiation thing. It's kind of like Berson said. Oh, yes, I would like to have a four-day work week. Well, yeah, asshole. It was a part of the negotiation, something that you can actually pull off the table. If you put the salary up at the level you're actually paying people right now, that's the starting point. So what do they do? They bring it down so that the starting point is down. So yeah, all of this is literally just a mirage, and for all of you idiots that are out there that don't understand how to negotiate, this is going to be really surprising for you. For all of us who understand business and we've been doing this for fucking years, guess what? It seems normal.
SFX: All right, all right, all right.
Joel: I'm shocked, Chad. I'm shocked that they got this done. When we first touched on this months ago, I said, they're a paper tiger, they're going to move jobs to Mexico, they're going to automate everything. I am impressed and shocked that this got done. Big win for workers. Big win for labor. Holy shit.
Chad: Yes, yes.
Joel: You're going to see more unionization. You're going to see stress from Tesla workers and right-to-work states want to unionize, or they'll just fucking go to Detroit. If you want to see an increase in applications to the big three of talented people, this is it. This is incredible news for unions, for workers that have been getting kicked in the nuts, proverbially, for decades. It's a big win for Joe Biden. I said early on when Joe Biden went to go visit, I said, look, both of these candidates need to try to elbow their way into getting this deal done. Trump went to a non-union shop. Biden went to Detroit and picketed for, I don't know, 28 seconds or something. But at least, he was there and the photo op was great. He can claim victory. He's going to be on the campaign trail in these swing states like Michigan, talking about union wages and the rise of unions and the common man and the working man and woman. So, big win for Joe Biden and the Democrats, in my mind.
Joel: Loss for Tesla. They're going to have a hard time keeping unions at bay, I think. Obviously, some shareholders will probably take it with greater salaries expenses. We'll see how that goes. So far, early on, stock prices haven't declined much. So, Wall Street for the most part is okay with what's going on, or at least price it in. But I'm ultimately just shocked that this happened. And it proves once again, if you have leverage, you can get this shit done. If you're UPS and people need their packages, if you're making cars and people want to drive new cars, then you can get what you want. But before you strike and do all this stuff, have leverage and have the numbers to do it. They did this really strategically. They rolled out the closings of plants. They tightened the screws more and more slowly. It was just brilliant. I am super impressed with union leadership. I think they totally stuck it to the leadership of these companies. The workers won. If you're a Democrat, you're happy today about Joe Biden's prospects of being president.
Joel: I'm shocked. The only cynic in me is that the car company said, "Okay, well, it'll take us five to seven years to automate. It'll take us that long to get to Mexico. Let's just give them what they want now and have a slow roll into oblivion. But let's make them happy today." But until that happens, this is a huge victory for unions. The pay transparency thing, look, if you're an employer, it is a good thing to put salary ranges in your job postings. You get better applicants, you get more applicants. Their retention at showing is better. It's just so stupid what we're seeing in pay transparency.
Chad: I know.
Joel: Companies just need to suck it up and do it. If you're not going to do it,
Chad: Agreed.
Joel: Is going to do it for you anyway, so you might as well fucking get on board [laughter] with pay transparency. But totally impressed with the union. I'm blown away that they got this done. Good for them.
Chad: And I got to tell you that Shawn Fain, who literally took that position because the other guys got put in jail, and there's more transparency around the UAW today, and it has to be. I think this is like a new movement for collective bargaining and unions and hope to see this move through. And again, you mentioned Tesla. There are so many industries that are out there today who really need representation because the little guy is getting battered left and right. So yes, I think this is a very big one. And I'm excited for not just those workers, but workers throughout the entire United States.
Joel: Big, big applause for the union there in Detroit.
[applause]
Joel: Very well done. Very well done. Let's take another break. Talk about OnlyFans for the first time on the show. [laughter] Just kidding. We'll be right back, everybody.
Joel: All right, Chad, how about a little OnlyFans news?
Chad: Imagine that.
Joel: That's right. Megan Gaither, an English teacher and varsity cheerleading coach at St. Clair High School in Missouri was put on leave after it was revealed that she was selling explicit content on OnlyFans to supplement her income. Gaither, 31, cited financial struggles and the need to repay over $125,000 in student loans as the reasons for her moonlighting job. Her total income last year, including a coaching stipend, was about $47,500. Gaither said she had deactivated her OnlyFans account after a student left a note under her classroom door, hinting that they knew about her secret. Her colleague, Brianna Coppage, a former teacher at the same school, resigned after it was discovered that she was running an OnlyFans page with her husband. Chad, more OnlyFans drama. What are your thoughts on the latest?
Chad: So, I automatically thought of Van Halen's Hot for Teacher, the video, when I started reading this. [chuckle] Because if you think about it, do you know how much more attentive I would have been in class as a teenager with these teachers?
SFX: Just the tip.
[chuckle]
Chad: But seriously, what did those ladies do that was illegal? Nothing. Then why are school systems allowed to fire them or push them into actually quitting? If I'm not doing something illegal, then you can just fuck off. Plus, did it hamper the teacher's performance? It's amazing how we shame women for doing things that are not illegal, or we make them illegal, like, I don't know, healthcare choices for their own damn body. If I were them, I would sue the pants off of these school systems. See what I did there?
Joel: I like that. That's good. [chuckle] That's good. That's not too bad, Chad.
Chad: I don't get it, dude. I just don't get it. They don't make a lot of money.
Joel: Well, we finally found the killer app for OnlyFans that's going to put it under is Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness. That's going to put OnlyFans out of business, if all these student loans get excused. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding, kinda.
Chad: Doubtful, doubtful.
[laughter]
Joel: Let's go back to last week's Clona.ai, Riley Reid's new venture. By the way, I reached out to Riley Reid's people for an interview. We'll see if they reply. So far, it's crickets. So Riley, call us.
Chad: I appreciate that. Good.
Joel: Call me, Riley. Anyway, I think OnlyFans is going to be disrupted by cheaper, naughtier options like Clona. I really don't think...
Chad: AI.
Joel: We're going to be talking about OnlyFans in 10 years in the way that we are today. AI is going to take this over. VR is going to be a thing, body suits with vibrating condoms. Who knows what the future holds? But it's not good for OnlyFans unless they make some serious acquisitions. But the girlfriend experience is coming and it's not in the form of teachers moonlighting with booby pictures. Second thing is, can we start paying teachers like the rock stars that they are? Look...
Chad: That'd be great.
Joel: It's an election year. I want to hear some governors talking about six-figure salaries for entry level teachers. That's what I want to hear. You want to see states start outperforming every other state, you want to see kids from all backgrounds start to outperform their peers, you want to see best-of-the-best college grads go into teaching? Well, start paying them like the badasses that they are. And that's why Chad and I are running as co-governor in the State of Indiana this fall. That's right, kids.
Chad: Jesus.
Joel: Vote Chad and Cheese. Vote Chad and Cheese. We're running for [laughter] co-governor of Indiana. Oh my God. Coach Knight, rest in peace. We out.
Chad: We out.
Outro: Wow. Look at you. You made it through an entire episode of the Chad and Cheese podcast. Or maybe you cheated and fast forwarded to the end. Either way, there's no doubt you wish you had that time back, valuable time you could have used to buy a nutritious meal at Taco Bell, enjoy a pour of your favorite whiskey, or just watch big booty Latinas and bug fights on TikTok. No, you hung out with these two chuckleheads instead. Now, go take a shower and wash off all the guilt, but save some soap because you'll be back. Like an awful train wreck, you can't look away. And like Chad's favorite Western, you can't quit them either. We out.