Everything You Do Means Something | Randall Crowder

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Randalls Grocery Store

Start up Nation

 

Episode Topics:

• Why military experience doesn’t need to define you
• How the men and women you serve with will always be family
• You don’t really know what the Army includes until you’re in
• No matter the importance, don’t define yourself by one thing
• Building your best bio
• Making the Most of who you are
• From Military to Technology

 

Rick Jordan:

What shakin’? Hey, I’m Rick Jordan and today we’re going all in my guest today cuz we, we do guests every now and then is an amazing dude who is a captain in the US Army, both airborne and ranger qualified. And if that doesn’t make him a badass just as it is, because that’s a lot right there. And I appreciate that so much. The dude is a c e o c O of Funware, a publicly traded technology company that’s near and dear to my heart. Co-founder, and managing partner of Teo Ventures. You know, we’re talking venture capitalists, we’re talking funding, we’re talking a whole bunch of things. Randall Crowder, a badass. Welcome to the show. <laugh> 

Randall Crowder:

Man. I, I don’t know if I can live up to that intro. I, I appreciate you having me 

Rick Jordan:

On, dude. It’s, it’s you though. And I, I wanted to start because this is not, and actually this is interesting Okay, though, in your bio, you know, and I know you’re leading with a lot of the business stuff, right? And, I’ve met a lot of other vets that are the same way. Like they, they, they’re no longer in the service. Right? But I also want to thank you for serving and I say that in, in the present tense because I don’t feel like that really ever ends. Right? It’s like your, your brothers and sisters in the, in the army are still your brothers and sisters always. 

Randall Crowder:

It, it’s so true. And, but it’s true for everything. I think, you know, it’s like when you go through something, whether it’s company building, you know, whether it’s something like, you know, war-fighting, you know, it, there’s nothing like that, that brings you together. And so I always tell people, like entrepreneurs, when when it, when it hits the fan and you’re about to go bankrupt and everything’s, you know, chaos, you know, that’s when you’re building muscle. And, so I think it’s always one of those things that when you look back on it and, and you’re on the other side of it, you know, you just build relationships in those times that you can’t build in the happy times. So, you know, people need to understand at the good, the tough times what makes strong men and women 

Rick Jordan:

Right on. Absolutely. And here’s a, I’m relating some of the, you know, your bio to, to me actually, like, I think of my LinkedIn profile and when I’ve always thought about this because I see that, right? And I, I wanted to mention that you’re a vet first because it’s so important to me and my heart always is with anybody that’s, that’s a vet and that is currently in or out of service. And I’m curious, what’s the reason why you don’t have that in your main bio somewhere? Because you have West Point, right? But you don’t <laugh> you don’t have the fact that you were a captain in the army. 

Randall Crowder:

Yeah. That’s a very, wow. You know, it’s funny. Yeah. That’s the first time I’ve, I’ve done a lot of talking in a lot of interviews and that’s a very, that that goes beyond just the, you know, hey, that was an insightful question. That is actually a really insightful question that I’ve never been asked before. So kudos to you, um, for being an original, you know, it’s not, it’s not a great answer I don’t think, but I’m gonna, I’m gonna be real with you. I’m gonna answer you honestly. I was, I didn’t know what I was getting into when I joined the military. I think a lot of people don’t know what they’re getting into, whether it’s joining the military, starting a business, you know, taking a job, getting into a relationship. It’s the unknown. That’s, that’s true. But I really didn’t know what I was getting into in the late nineties. 

Randall Crowder:

Actually. I thought it was the opposite rum, so was downsized in the army. Um, a lot of people were getting out after going to West Point. And so, you know, we were peacetime. It was the glory days. And um, my senior year was September 11th and I still remember walking into class, the very first class I had after the towers fell. And it, you couldn’t have scripted this any better. We had this old school colonel that I think had jumped into Grenada, you know, iron jaw, gravelly voice. And he is kind of looking at us as we’re all sitting down and he goes, well, cadets, you’re all going to war. And it was like, shit. Like that was a realization that like the world I thought I was going into, going to West Point, you know, having a good education. You know, I don’t come from wealth, you know, I wouldn’t, but my parents didn’t have to pay for college, which was great. 

Randall Crowder:

I thought I was giving something back to them. And then, you know, I figured we’d serve a little bit, it’d be a good experience, get out and go live my life. And all of a sudden everything changes, you know, you know that you’re going to, you know, be under fire probably within the next, you know, 12 to 18 months. Doing that was transformational for me, but I didn’t want that to be transformational for me. And so I have a tattoo across my back that’s most of my back that is a phoenix and it represents, and I kind of a feeling I had while I was serving where I was like, you know what? As, as transformational as this is, and as much as I’ll remember this and as much as it’ll shape me, I don’t want it to be who I am. Like I don’t want to be one of those people that, you know, 20 years from now, you know, one time in Iraq I did this, and one time I did that. 

Randall Crowder:

Like I wanted to be defined by, you know, being great, you know, husband, being a great father, being, you know, a good businessman. Like, I don’t want this to be the one triumphant moment of my life that I served in war one day. And so I think I’ve distanced myself from it, um, more so than probably I should, you know, I mean, I am proud of it. Um, I’m inherently proud of the people I served with, of course. Um, but you won’t find me talking about it a lot. Like I don’t talk about it in business a lot. I don’t talk about what I did a lot. Um, it’s one of those things that like, I don’t want it to define me, uh, but I do understand that it’s still a part of me. So that’s interesting. I, I don’t know, maybe I’m, I’m disclaiming it a little bit and I’m, I’m pushing it down a little bit cause I don’t want someone to necessarily judge me for that one way or the other. Um, so I don’t know. I’m gonna have to, I’m gonna have to dissect that a little bit more. <laugh>, kudos to you for asking me that question. 

Rick Jordan:

That’s good, man. I mean, we always go all in, right? And I, I saw that and it made me think I, it, what’s, what’s ironic is you said you don’t think that that’s a good answer. Meaning that it was probably a bad answer in your mind. And I actually feel that that was probably the most perfect answer, you know because you could see yourself reflecting back on that time as you were telling the stories and how everything tr transpired back at that point. And that I think dude can be powerful for you. So it’s, sorry, I might coach you a little bit on the call, I don’t know, but <laugh>, it says, I think it really, 

Randall Crowder:

Yeah, I 

Rick Jordan:

Like it could be powerful for you. 

Randall Crowder:

Never stop learning, 

Rick Jordan:

Right? Right on brother. Right on. So even like, like if you look at my bio as an example, and I’m not saying mine’s the best way, but it’s like there’s the business stuff and the creds cuz I’ve accomplished a lot just like you have. And then at the bottom it’s like, by the way, I’m also a musician. I’m an avid scotch fan, you know, and, when you look on my LinkedIn, right, because, I have a very active profile with articles and everything about my industry and just general motivation, entrepreneurship. But you see, you know, there’s like gaps in employment in places, but there are selective things on there now. And one of the things that still is on there, at least in like my about me is that I worked at McDonald’s. Yeah. And that was something, that somebody actually liked when I was 16, right? 

Rick Jordan:

And, and it’s, it’s on there. Yeah. That I worked at McDonald’s and it’s like, how does that freaking apply today? But just like you’re saying, bro, it’s like, it’s not something that defines me, but it’s still something that I can pull learnings from and it’s still a part of me. It actually still even dictates how I sell today. And I use stories and examples from working at McDonald’s to coach people on selling <laugh> that work in my organization. You know, cause I, I love them, I love them, hey, do you want fries with that? That’s literally the best line in sales ever. You know, and I, talk about that hundred percent, but that’s why it’s on my LinkedIn bio too. You know, it’s not on my, like my official bio because I mean, if I’m going to speak, you know, on stage somewhere, I don’t have to list off. I mean, it does not compare to being a captain in the army that I was an assistant manager at McDonald’s. You know, <laugh>, <laugh>, 

Randall Crowder:

I dunno, I’ve seen some pretty crazy, you know, Instagram and YouTube videos of what goes on in a Waffle House or McDonald’s. You might, it might be combating at times. You never know, but you’re right. Talk about, you know, upselling, talk about customer service. There’s also a lot of really great Harvard, you know, case studies on like what McDonald’s did to kind of, you know, create that situation where you wanna sit for a little bit of time, but not too much time. The coloring and everything about how McDonald’s was done were very prescriptive. And so there’s a lot of lessons to be learned, for what they did. So I love that 

Rick Jordan:

For sure, man. I, I mean if you’re gonna throw this in your bio I would even maybe do like a sentence or two based on what you just said here today. Like, while I value the time that I served, you know, it, it’s a part of me, but just like anything else in my life, it doesn’t define me because I hope everybody can grow past whatever current state they’re in right now, but apply those learnings to what they’re currently doing and currently serving with. I think I just wrote a line for you, by the way, 

Randall Crowder:

<laugh>, I’m gonna steal it. 

Rick Jordan:

<laugh> I’ll 

Randall Crowder:

Give, you’ll give credit parents due. So, you know, but you, you’re saying something that’s, that’s so important about, you know, one being vulnerable, like, you know, not necessarily blaming certain things, you know, being like, Hey, this is me. Because like, you know, the people that aren’t your people, you know, will either not pay attention or maybe judge, but you know, the people that are your people are gonna resonate with that. They’re like, yeah man. Like I remember getting my first job, I worked at Randall’s, you know, it was a grocery store and I used to love like, older people thought it was hilarious cause I was Randall Randall Randall’s. And 

Rick Jordan:

They, it’s awesome. 

Randall Crowder:

That’s possible. Um, but like, you know, the early jobs when you’re, you know, in your formative years are important talking points and like, you know, what did you learn? Do you know? Yeah. What was it like? And, and I think, you know, sharing those with others, that’s why I think these, these, you know, podcasts are so important. You know, you’re sharing your vulnerability, you’re sharing your truth and you realize how many other people have had similar experiences or like-minded experiences or thoughts and you realize you’re not alone. And so, you know, the more you share, the more, the more vulnerable you are. Yeah. Um, you know, it’s just, it’s a nice light for other people to, to kind of see, emulate, shine, shine brighter. 

Rick Jordan:

Right on brother. I mean, there’s so much you have from there too. I mean, I, I’m, it’s like, I want to give you a big hug because I, I have sincere, 

Randall Crowder:

I’ll take it. I’m 

Rick Jordan:

A hugger. Good man. I have sincere thanks to you. You know, and around everything that you did, especially during that time, I mean, even things like two bronze stars and all of that, it’s like you’re, you weren’t just your average grunt, you know? And it’s, it’s awesome. And I think that that could even help people that are in there. Cuz I, I know vets that have been in there as well, but then they also like take a liking to other vets so that they’re financially sound when they come out, you know? Yeah. So, they use the service to actually turn it into part of their business. Right. And you’re right. That way you’re not excluding and you’re kind of including I love it, man. I do. I want to give you a hug cuz I I love your energy, dude. And it’s a, I know you gave the best answer ever to that question and I just pulled it out of my butt. But I was, I was curious. 

Randall Crowder:

<laugh> you, you, you, what’s funny is you, you took me to a different level because I have to take my own medicine now. So like, one of the, one of the really neat books that I think really shines a light on what’s happening in service and going all in, in, in America is Startup Nation and it’s actually about Israel and how their service lends itself to entrepreneurship and innovation in Israel. And so you would think, well, how could that possibly be correlated? Like most people in America think, all right, you’re in the army, you love bureaucracy chains of command. You can’t think creatively and you, couldn’t be further from the truth. But what happens a lot of times with people getting out of the army or any military branch, you know, they don’t really know how to translate that experience. Do you know? And I had the same thinking when I got out. 

Randall Crowder:

I was like, man, all my friends are on Wall Street doing billion-dollar deals. You know, they’re consulting for Fortune 500 companies. Like what do I have to offer? Like, you know, you wanna do movement to contact, I can do that. You wanna raid a house? I can do that. But like, you know, I don’t know, I don’t have my series seven, like what am I supposed to do now? Yeah. And you quickly realize that a lot of what you’re learning actually is a huge personal competitive advantage. And you actually have a lot of tools that a lot of opportunities require that you know, maybe a lot of Harvard and Stanford grads don’t have actually. Um, so helping people understand how to translate, you know, athletes go through this as well. Like, how do you translate, you know, what you did as a professional athlete and into the private sector, you know, it’s not just, oh geez, I gotta start all over. It’s like, you actually have a lot of leadership skills, you have a lot of organizational development skills, you have a lot of grit that’s valuable. And so, you have a great network by the way. Um, and so learning how to make the most of who you are and, and, and sell all of it, including the vulnerable stuff or maybe the stuff that you push down, uh, further on the profile is important. So I’m gonna take my own medicine and, and you, you gave me some thinking to do. 

Rick Jordan:

Sweet brother. I’ve been guilty of that too. Like pushing down the stuff that I thought didn’t matter. And then it’s crazy because the stuff that you think doesn’t matter, I mean, maybe it’s a, a male testosterone thing too, you know? I, I could see that. Yeah. I mean, we’re both, we’re both fairly built guys, you know, <laugh>, we, we value, we value being men as we see men. And when, when I took a look at some vulnerable stuff in my life too, I would start to push that aside. You know, things like, I’m an ordained pastor, you know, and I’m a, I’m a musician and, and all those things. Oh, you really? I am. Yeah. I, um, wow. And I was challenged in that too, a while back by a friend of mine. He’s like, you know, when you’re ordained he’s like, for life. 

Rick Jordan:

He’s like, why do you say you were a former pastor? It’s kind of a similar thing, right? With, with, with the military. And I’m like, dude, yeah, dude, that’s right. You know, thank you for that. This was like maybe three years ago, you know? That’s interesting. That made it into my bio <laugh> after, after that too, because it just shows a foundation, you know? But then it, I mean, it goes, I’m also real too. Of course. And I love that dichotomy because when I did stand up on Broadway a few years ago, which was another experience, there was another pastor, and this was one of my parts of my bit and my, my sketch, I’m like, there are two pastors that are up here tonight but don’t worry, I’m the only one that says, fuck <laugh> <laugh>, the whole place erupts. And it’s a, it’s like, yeah, I’m the real one because, you know, he’s still got the congregation, you know, and all those people that he’s accountable to, you know, it’s, it’s just, it’s just me and G and that’s what it is right now. And I’m making an impact on the world. Okay. 

Randall Crowder:

<laugh>. I love it. I 

Rick Jordan:

Love it. Oh, dude. Uh, I love where we’re going today, man. I, I wanna touch on Funware, you know, cuz I’m intrigued about this cuz it, in your bio, right, it’s 40 angel investments. You’ve deployed over 60 million across 14 companies. I mean, that’s nothing that just shakes a finger at by any means. You’re in Austin right now. So in, in addition to funding and being an angel investor, you also have a company in Austin, right? That’s a separate, these, these are two separate things. 

Randall Crowder:

Yeah, yeah. Two separate things. And ironically there was, you know, I always tell people this too, you know, then this is the smallest big world you’ll ever imagine. And, and you know, the relationships that you build and what you do, um, it’s crazy the ways it will come back, you know, around. Yeah. And so when I was still doing, when I just got started doing angel investing in the kind of 2008 timeframe, um, and then I took over, I grew basically the central Texas Angel network to be one of the most, is now the most active angel network, uh, in the country. Um, really the idea was just to prove, you know, actually taking everything that I learned about from the military and applying it to bringing investors and entrepreneurs together. And you’d be amazed at how undisciplined that is. And by providing a little bit of discipline and a little bit of structure, it allowed that process to go a lot faster. 

Randall Crowder:

And, everybody kind of set expectations properly. Well, I helped with the first one-and-a-half million dollars to start fun word back in 2009. And then we were both kinds of, you know, army, uh, both rangers and kind of said, you know, all right, let’s keep in touch. And, and we just kind of, you know, I, I kept in touch from a kind of an investor perspective, but wasn’t operational. Fast forward 10 years. Um, it is about 2017, uh, actually, um, they were looking at, you know, possibly going public and possibly doing some things around crypto. I had another fund that was tied to a kind of crypto. And so I was like, you know, evaluating another investment. And so I put about 3 million into the last round when they were private and the old C needed to step away for some health reasons. 

Randall Crowder:

And the CEO said, Hey, you wanna actually stop doing the investment thing full-time and come do this, you know, this company with me full-time. And I think at that point I was ready. Um, you know, when you’re an investor, you’re a backseat driver. If you’re investing properly, you know, when things kind of go a little bit sideways, maybe you’re riding shotgun and you wanna be, you know, a little bit more, you know, present. Yeah. And then if things are really going sideways, maybe you got a hand on the wheel or you jump in the driver’s seat. But for the most part, if you’re investing in the right entrepreneurs, you’re a backseat driver. Um, and I don’t make a good backseat driver. I like, I like being in control. I was actually, I never got that about you at <laugh>. It’s actually a funny story about me getting in trouble multiple times in Iraq. 

Randall Crowder:

Cuz more often than not, we either air inserted or drove, um, but I mean, or walked. But if we drove, I drove myself and my driver was my combat guy. And you were absolutely not supposed to drive yourself as an officer, uh, in a combat zone. But I just, I’m a good driver and I feel like I see everything that I want to see. Um, and I was gonna drive one way or the other. I felt more comfortable driving myself and being aware of the battlefield in control. And so the same thing in investing, I wanna drive. And so it was a good time for me to transition into a full-time operational role as an entrepreneur. And Funware had a big enough problem. It was trying to solve. You know, I remember thinking when I was doing investing, it was all healthcare. So it was like health, healthcare, technology, uh, tech-enabled healthcare services, that kind of thing. 

Randall Crowder:

Uh, cause I like the fact that what we were investing in and what we were growing could help people. Yeah. Um, Funware was a different problem, but still had a broad reach. It was about how we take all of these mobile applications on our phones and do more with them. And so, you know, it’s not just about binge-watching Netflix, it’s not just about fighting with people about mask mandates on social media. You know this is gonna be the future of engagement. And so like we just rolled out at Atlantis down in The Bahamas, and so anywhere on that island, we know we’ve mapped the entire island. You’ll know anywhere you are down to Palm Tree level, you can book anything you want, you know, on demand. So it’s like the buy now button in the real world. Wow. Did that for E-com. We’re doing that in the real world. Uh, but our biggest industry is healthcare. You know, it’s, it’s tech enabling healthcare. It’s like how do we, you know, you go into a hospital building and it’s so complicated, you get lost. You don’t know where your medical records are, you don’t know how to, you know, where’s your bill paid, discharge protocols, pharmacy, you know, everything about healthcare is just so complicated. How do we demystify it and how do we do that through a mobile device since we live in a mobile-first world? Yeah. And so that’s what our company’s all about. What 

Rick Jordan:

Was the big one question that you were like fun. Where’s the answer to this? You know, can, 

Randall Crowder:

How do you engage customers when we live in an on-demand world and everyone has a D <laugh>? Because that’s 

Rick Jordan:

What it’s I like it. Yeah. 

Randall Crowder:

Like right now, people want what they want. They want it right now. And if you miss them at the moment, you may miss them forever. So you have to be able to interdict at that moment. And then that’s what Amazon did in e-com. They figured out, like, I remember when I first heard about the buy now button, I’ll admit I didn’t really get it. I was like, but I, I have a cart. What’s the problem? Yeah. And then anybody Unicom will be like, that is the problem. People think they want it, they put it in their cart and then they abandon it. Yep. Yeah. Well, we do that in our real-world lives all the time. So like if you’re at Atlantis and you’re rolling past a sign for a stingray encounter and you got two little munchkins with you and you’re like, man, that’d be great. 

Randall Crowder:

You know, I should, I should bring the kids over and see that. But we better get ’em fed first cuz they’re gonna melt down if they don’t eat something. When you get to the restaurant, it’s a 30-minute wait. By the time you sit ’em down, they’re all throwing a temper tantrum. You finally get some food in ’em. You know, maybe you spill a couple of drinks on your brand-new swim trunks. By the end of that dinner, you may have forgotten about the Stingray encounter. Maybe all you wanna do is hand these little monsters off to mom and take a nap. Yeah, well I can get you at that moment when you’re excited about it. I’m gonna give you that buy-now capability right then and there. So we see that all the time right now with our customers where people want what they want. Yep. And you gotta give it to ’em. So it’s a great way to, you know, drive incremental revenue, save on operational costs, and really kind of look at the efficiencies of any one system. You know, are you using your people properly? Are you getting people the right content when they need it? Um, and so you could be standing outside a building and get content specific for that experience or what’s around you, what’s important to you. And so it’s all about tech enabling that contextual engagement. 

Rick Jordan:

I love it. Yeah. You’re really diving into the purchaser psychology with that. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, some things there, there has to be a cart, right? When you’re custom configuring some things or if you’re putting together an outfit on a clothing site or something like that. But if you’re just selling like one thing, cuz you see all these, you know, it’s like ClickFunnels, right? Which I’m sure you’re familiar with. It’s like they never built a cart to their funnel system at all. You have to use add-ons in order to do that. And that’s because of this psychology that you just want to make it super simple and easy to convert somebody on the spot. And then after that, after you’ve already converted them after they’ve entered their credit card number and everything else, it’s like, then you upsell, then it see this conversation’s full circle, then it’s D one fries with that. 

Randall Crowder:

You were surprised by us, right? 

Rick Jordan:

<laugh> and no joke, like when I was, this is great because when I was at McDonald’s too, when somebody was ordering through the drive-through, I never asked them if they wanted fries with that. Like I was trained to, while they were at the ordering menu. It was after they handed me the cash. Cuz I mean I’m going back to like the mid-nineties right after they handed me the cash. I’m like, you know what, did you want fries with that? Or you want something that was like, oh yeah. I’m like, okay, no promise it’s just gonna be this much now. Because they already committed to purchasing at that point. Yeah. They already even established the transaction and then it was just super simple to get something else added to the ticket. It’s freaking awesome. It’s 

Randall Crowder:

So important. People don’t realize that so much. Like how, you know, how much it’s anything about customer success or any business. I mean, it’s so much easier to get more revenue from an existing customer and then go out and acquire a new customer. Cuz you’re right, they’re already committed to that engagement. But you’ll talk to companies and you’ll be, what’s your customer success strategy? And it’s like, what do you mean? Like they, they don’t, they just, they’re all out there just trying to find new customers, which you gotta do both. Yeah. But don’t forget about the customers you have. And so we have a, we have a great land and expand strategy where it’s like, all right, we’re gonna give you that foundation layer with a mobile application, location-based services, but then let’s roll out access control. If you want to unlock all your doors with your phone, we can do that. If you wanna integrate your mobile concierge, we can do that. And so it’s all just this interoperability layer because like you said, they’re already committed to the transaction. Right on. Then you can go all in. 

Rick Jordan:

Right on baby. I love it. So for today, I think we’re good now, uh, cuz I, I what I want to do, because I, there’s some other stuff I want to shift into, but it’s like another 30 minutes worth of conversation. So yeah, while we’re still recording, I would love to have you back. Yeah. Because of this, so everyone listening, we’re gonna talk about leveraging blockchain next time. We’re gonna talk about the angel investing side of things and also about, uh, Texas Venture Labs. These are three things that I want to talk to talk about with Randall when he’s coming back here in just a couple of weeks. So stay tuned for that. It’s amazing. Randall, thanks for being with me today, bud. I appreciate 

Randall Crowder:

You. Thanks so much, Rick. Really appreciate your time. 

Rick Jordan:

You bet. Thanks for Going ALL IN.