Cold Open

SPEAKER_03 0:00

You know, we can get AI to do the work of those people that we lay off. And uh some companies have tried to do that, right? Some big companies have tried to do that and lay it lay people off and try to replace them with AI. Look, man, that's a race to the bottom. You're you're making huge mistakes. If your business out there thinking about doing this, whatever, it it might help your quarter, it might even help your year, but like three years from now, you're in a bad place, man, because AI is not gonna care about your business in three years from now.

Theme Song

SPEAKER_00 0:34

If you wanna hear about St. Louis, tune into the Bucketless Show Weekly. Hear what Marissa and Luke say. It drops every Wednesday, got a dope new guest every single week. Buckle up for the ride. Who's it gonna be? Who's on the show today? They rap Saint Louis. What to do in the loo on a late night? I maybe what to do on a date night. Yeah. Bucket list as you covered, they know what's going on. What's going on? They'll give you. Hey, eighteen different things to do on 19. If you need one more to choose, yeah. The city, city, city is a place we call home.

Royal Banks of Missouri

SPEAKER_00 1:10

A place we call home. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

The STL Bucket List show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor and the official banking partner of STL Bucket List, Royal Banks of Missouri. Royal Banks is a full-service, independent community bank, locally owned, locally run, and proudly investing in St. Louis since 1964. That's more than 60 years of taking care of the people and businesses who make this city special. From checking and savings to mortgages, business banking, and wealth management, you get real personalized service from neighbors who actually know your name. With 16 locations across St. Louis, St. Charles, Illinois, and Northeast Missouri, there's a branch right around the corner, Royal Banks of Missouri, proudly investing in our communities. St. Louis, welcome back to another episode of the STL

Why Innovation Week

SPEAKER_02 1:50

bucket list show, highlighting the people, places, and events that make St. Louis special. We've been recording this podcast since March of 2022, and we have new episodes coming out every single Wednesday, highlighting the people, places, and events that make St. Louis special. We have two people in the studio today that are innovating, that are shaking up things in St. Louis and organizing events. We have Mike Sieper and we have Mark Munsell with GOSTL. First of all, gentlemen, thank you guys for both coming in the studio and finding time. I know you guys are both really busy.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

So thanks for having us. Yeah, thanks, man.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

So first, for those that, you know, are hearing about this event for the first time, walk me through. Tell me about the event. I know it's October 13th through 17th. Innovate USA Summit and Expo. Tell me about the event and why you're doing it here in St. Louis.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Absolutely. Well, we're really excited to be able to offer more opportunities for students to be able to learn about innovation and our entire community to come together. So we hosted entrepreneurial support organizations at UMSL a few months ago with Tasia Gordon, the director of entrepreneurship for the state of Missouri. And part of that was understanding that we need a place to all come together, to gather, to network, and to be able to create new foundations for students to be able to learn how to use technology, innovation, to be able to advance workforce development, career opportunities. So we're bringing in exhibitors, fantastic panels for our summit, and creating something special for our community that didn't exist before. So this will be the first Missouri Innovation Week.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Yeah, that's amazing. And and Mark, uh, kind of give me a little bit of background on your experience and kind of what led you to where you are today and being a part of the part

GeoSTL & the NGA

SPEAKER_02 3:17

of the.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Yeah, so um GeoSTL is a new 501c3, new nonprofit here in uh St. Louis. We just started this year. Um uh we we kind of grew out of an effort called Geofutures, uh, which was done by Greater St. Louis uh Inc., right? The the chamber basically. And um and we spun out of there in uh March and basically are the Chamber for Geospatial Technology in St. Louis. That sounds a little weird to say that because geospatial technology is mysterious to a lot of people, and like intentionally mysterious, yeah. Um, because it's kind of been behind the wall at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency here, a secretive agency that does not broadcast what they do uh broadly. But um, over the last five years, since announcing that they would move to North St. Louis and build that $2 billion headquarters, more and more open about what they do, who they are, and how to work with the region, how to work with the city and the county together to be able to be able to grow jobs here in St. Louis, be able to grow the economy and invest in innovation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

So I was reading a couple of facts that, you know, the geospatial economy is valued roughly $5 billion and supports an estimated 27,000 jobs. I mean, what is you you being in the industry? I mean, what type of impact does that bring to St. Louis? I mean, it's obviously major.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

You know, I I give a lot of talks about geospatial technology and talks about the agency, you know, now that I'm retired. Um, and it's interesting, I can go to any room and I can ask folks to raise their hand. Hey, who here knows someone from you know, church or um or school or work that has relationship to the, I say the mapping agency, because a lot of people still call it that from years back. Yeah. And almost everybody's like, oh yeah, my uncle or you know, uh my Sunday school teacher worked worked, and I asked, what do they do? And they're like, they never said what it was. And so it's a long, enduring history here in St. Louis that we celebrate. It goes back to World War II. And so over the years, the the impact has grown. This technology is used not in just defense and intelligence, which was the core of that, it's used across the board in everything that you do. Obviously, you use it, yeah, you use it almost every day, probably every second of every day where you try to figure out where you're at and where you're going. Right? That's geospatial technology. GPS, one of the greatest gifts from the Department of Defense to the world was to be able to um, you know, help people navigate everyday lives.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Yeah, that's amazing. So um, I want to kind of walk through your guys' connection. I mean, how did this come about? I I know that you guys have a big panel scheduled for that Tuesday event down at the post building. Um, walk me through, you know, uh what that means to have, you know, Mark and his team involved, but then also, you know, what they can expect

The AI for Good Panel

SPEAKER_02 5:58

from that panel. I mean, it's it sounds like some heavy hitters are coming in for that.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

So absolutely. So uh Mark and I had a chance to collaborate when I was at the Defense Innovation Unit prior to my current role as director of innovation and IP at UMSL. So uh we had a history there and really excited for this partnership to be able to develop as we're putting together Innovation Week is to be able to look at creating value for our leaders. So I mentioned about what we're trying to do for our students, for our community, but it's important for our leaders to come together and be thoughtful in what AI looks like, where are we at today, where is the future going, and what are applications for good? And that's why I was really excited for the panel that Mark's putting together. One, fantastic leaders from uh worldwide technologies, Google, AWS, and many others, but also bringing in community leaders. So when we're talking about AMIC and uh Taylor Geospatial and the city of St. Louis proposing challenges that they're encountering, that's really what we want to focus on. What is AI for good? How do we use it to advance our community? And how do we make sure that Missouri is a leader in that space? And so that's why it's a pleasure to collaborate with Mark and team.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

For over 150 years, SSM Health has been providing hope, healing, and opportunities to the St. Louis community.

SSM Health

SPEAKER_02 7:05

With over 40,000 employees across four states, they're not only delivering exceptional care, they're one of the region's largest employers, shaping the future of healthcare. We're proud to present SSM Health as the official healthcare partner of the STL bucket list show. If you've dreamed of a career where you're truly making a difference every day, SSM Health can help you take that to the next step. Learn more at their website in the link in the show notes. And the presentation of the new

The Spirit of St. Louis

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Spirit of St. Louis, incredible name. Everybody loves that nostalgia of the spirit of St. Louis from the old jerseys, the AI Innovation Center, um, you know, presented jointly by GeoSTL.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Yeah, and look, Spirit of St. Louis Technology. You know, lots of you know, conjures up lots of thoughts. The reason we called it that because back in 1927, there was there were um nine civic leaders, all from St. Louis, that basically put a big bet on the table, literally put their money on the table at the racket club and said, We believe in this aviator, we believe that they can win this challenge. And so, you know, they took that money and they retrofitted that airplane, and in 60 days they were basically ready to go. And you know, he flew to Paris and became the world's most famous human. And they called the airplane the spirit of St. Louis. I mean, that's some branding there, man. That was worldwide, you know, put us on the map. And uh obviously we were on the map before that, but but uh we, you know, feeling that sort of same spirit, we were like, let's call it that. Let's get the Lindbergh Foundation involved um and let's celebrate this idea of St. Louis sponsoring innovation in the hundredth centennial anniversary of the spirit of St. Louis, which is next year, right? So didn't even put that together when you said that, but yeah, to have that opportunity and to and then now to bring companies like NVIDIA, we didn't mention them earlier, right? The world's sort of largest technology company, uh, most valuable technology company, to bring them to St. Louis and talk about using AI. Look, we we use AI today, everyone's using it. Some people don't realize that they're using it, right? Yeah. Um and a lot of times we use that AI technology, it's kind of seductive. It's like doing stuff for you, and it's like, hey, you're great and you're awesome, and just keep using me like this product that's very seductive. But there's so many good things that we can do with this technology. There's so many sort of non-commercial marketing things that we do with this with this technology. There's humanitarian efforts, right? There's environmental efforts. Um, you know, there there are things like food security. Uh, we can use satellite imagery and use AI and that satellite imagery to predict crop failures. So these are these are the important things that this AI Innovation Center are going to tackle by bringing together some of the world's sort of best researchers and the world's biggest technology, combine that with St. Louis's nonprofits. That's what we want to showcase. Um, you know, you know, and Mike asked us to do that, and we're like, this is the perfect venue to do that.

unknown 10:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

And and to build on that spirit

The 33.5-Hour Hackathon

SPEAKER_01 10:05

of St. Louis theme, uh, we're almost a hundred years to the day of those nine leaders coming together. So when we are gathering, it gives us an opportunity to celebrate that they believed in a 24, 25-year-old to be able to set aviation innovation history. And so I want to bring our leaders together to look at our 25-year-olds, look around of where we're investing in our future and where we can go with new technology, new tools, and empowering that next generation. So that's part of what we're doing. And we're doing a hackathon that is 33 and a half hours around that theme. That was the flight time of the spirit of St. Louis. And so this gives students a chance to build, create something really special, and to be able to work on problems that are presented by the city of St. Louis, challenges that we're encountering that they can come in and empower our students. We're going to have students, even in high school, building solutions that might be adopted by the city. And that's a really special opportunity to do something different than a traditional hackathon where you're trying to look at cybersecurity or build a startup. We're trying to empower our community.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Yeah, to solve problems. And that's amazing. So Thursday, October 15th from five to seven, that's the finish line celebration over at T-Rex. It is.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

And we're uh celebrating with RECF, so Robotics Education Competition Foundation. So they brought in many tens of thousands of families for the uh competition, the world championship here. So we're really excited to have them as a partner. We have an entire lower level uh dedicated to robotics. So if you haven't been to the post building, there's a slide that slides into the lower level uh that we're gonna have kids to be able to enter a robotics playground in a really unique way.

Why St. Louis

SPEAKER_01 11:34

So we're excited for a special event.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

That's incredible. I mean, what you guys, I mean, what you're doing to build this and and your involvement and and uh you mentioned you being retired and obviously dedicating your time to this to this project. Um, what is it about St. Louis? I mean, I read, I read um all these things about, you know, these new data centers, all these different things that are happening in St. Louis, but like us having an opportunity to really be a leader in, you know, I know we talked off camera about the Silicon Valley of the world and the Austins of the world, but it's like what it what do you see in St. Louis? I mean, because you've been in the game for so long and obviously you're you're devoting your life to it now.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Yeah, so I mean, we have to capitalize on what we have here. Yeah, right. Um, and I might I made a joke in post dispatch like earlier this year, like, hey, beer and toastery avioles are great, but they're not gonna get us jobs necessarily. No, you know, the the culture, the culture that we have here, we talked a little bit about, you know, um the arts here, um, you know, the symphony, um all of these great things that we have here, they do attract like you know look, St. Louis City soccer, come on, man. Yeah, you know, how awesome is that? And and that does attract people here. Yeah. So when when people are thinking about um uh moving here, taking jobs here, whatever, those things are very important. I almost said Ted Drews. Yeah. And we all know if I would have said Ted Drews, you know, I would have been run out of this. You might not be on this podcast right now. That's right. Um but the reality is we got to find things that will build this economy. We have to find things that will bring companies, bring jobs here, right? And um attract investment in St. Louis.

Geospatial Meets Ag Tech

SPEAKER_03 13:05

That's my metric, that's our metric at GeoSTL. Um, all the people that back us, the other nonprofits in the area, that's what we're trying to do, this economic development group at nonprofits. And we concentrate on clusters. And it just so happens that we have a cluster of geospatial technology professionals here in St. Louis. We have over a hundred companies, um, and we have some of the smartest people world in the world working on some of the most difficult problems of the world. And I say that I'm qualified to say that because I worked on those difficult problems every day for the last 25 years. And and some of them are, you know, you wake up in the morning and uh the president's saying something and they just execute some sort of action, and you're like, yeah, we we worked on that. And that was something that that the team worked on last night. Um and so, but think of the other stuff that we have. We have agriculture technology and the concentration, the highest concentration of PhDs in plant science in the country, right here, Dan Force Plant Science Center. We have uh bear, right? This amazing company that are inventing new ways, better ways to grow corn. I know that sounds a little bit too corny, but just both there. But these are important things. And the science and technology behind that, the engineering behind that, the AI that's behind that, is something we should celebrate, take advantage of, and invest in because there's lots of economic support, there's lots of supporting, orchestrating um uh economic power behind that, and to draw people to the area and sort of cross-cut like geospatial with agriculture. Look, that's that's what that's a St. Louis, man. We just I just said, you know, St. Louis. Um, the same technology that we use on a satellite to find bad guys hiding in the woods, like infrared, near-red technology. You've seen it in all the movies, like when you're glowing um, like in the video games, is the same technology that agriculturists use, farmers use, and scientists use to detect dead, dying, to distress crops. So you can see how those two things come together. You bring two smart people from those two groups together and you collide them together and talk about new innovative ideas and new, you know, new inventions and new products and new services. We can start new companies to think through that.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

And things are happening faster than ever now. I mean, I keep I mean, I follow a lot of newsletters and I see, I mean, it's every day now compared to 25 years ago where things were you were working on maybe for six months.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

You can do that stuff and you can invent look this hackathon, yeah, these these kids are probably wrong, thousands of lines of code because of Claude.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

Yeah, right? That's right.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

And Google, because Google is one of our analysts.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah. And AWS. Yeah. The STL bucket list show is proudly sponsored by Suede Dispensary with 11 Missouri

Swade Dispensary

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area locations. Suede does so much for the St. Louis community. We've been working with this team for a couple years back since Medical was here, and we're excited to support their new product launches, events, and community initiatives. We couldn't be happier to work with this premier cannabis brand, and we're excited for them to sponsor the show. Enjoy the rest of the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

And the part of that is giving them the exposure. So geospatial is maybe a difficult concept. We were talking about

Inspiring the Next Generation

SPEAKER_01 16:18

uh it's not really shared what people do in that field, but we're gonna make this accessible so that they can have hands-on opportunities to learn what a career looks like with geospatial, with AI, with AgCheck. So bringing in exhibitors and being able to have something interactive and fun for kids is that first way to get them interested, to get them involved, and to be looking at what a career might look like, why they want to study here, why they want to stay here.

SPEAKER_02 16:41

And Mike, I mean, you you mentioned in the St. Louis Magazine article, um, it's about helping aspiring entrepreneurs to be able to launch new ventures, new products. And I uh as a young entrepreneur, I started my business at 23. I'm 30 now, so seven years in, we get a surplus of young talent that want to come work for a media company like ours. And I get to see how incredibly talented these young people are. Our entire office here is under 30 and it's 15 of us, and we're all working towards, you know, highlighting St. Louis in a certain way that's new and innovative. So what do you see? Because you're surrounded. And then like I think both you guys are passionate about that next generation because obviously those kids, we want them to stay here in St. Louis. We want them to build companies here. I mean, my friends over at the Arch Grants helps with stuff like that. I mean, all these people help. I mean, they call at one point with the Arch Grants, I had them on the podcast. Is it's you know, the name for St. Louis is Silicon Prairie because it's in the middle of the Midwest and it there's a lot of startups right down Washington Avenue, you know, where you guys are gonna be spending a lot of time during innovation week. But I just want I know that was long-winded, but what does it mean to see the impact? I mean, you haven't seen it yet over these four days, but you're gonna change some of these people's lives during these four days. So, like, what does that mean to you to be able to put that on?

SPEAKER_01 17:45

That's our goal is open the aperture for the kids that they know and everybody in our community to know why St. Louis is a special place, to get the skills, to be able to find ways they can apply their talents and their energy. So you mentioned the team that you've put together. When you bring together entrepreneurs, innovators, it is a creative energy. People wake up ready to go. People want to be able to do something special. And especially when you're more motivated for something bigger than yourself, bigger than your company, but when you're looking at the city, the community, and the entire state. This is Missouri Innovation Week. So we're bringing in leaders and partners from across the state. We want to be able to showcase what St. Louis is doing well, but we want to be able to make sure that everybody in our state is celebrating and wanting to be part of this and be part of something special for years to come. So we're trying to get wind in the sails, get people excited for why this is going to be needed for today, uh, helping our leaders to be able to get that stage, to be on the panel, to discuss where we're going, but then also charting a path for those kids in high school, middle school, that they can start building a pathway and understand what a future career looks like. So when I was uh going to university, I went to ST. I was an inventor, I developed a new type of cold pack and I moved up to Hawaii. So I look at this kind of like surfing in Hawaii. You're trying to catch a wave. And I feel like this wave is at the right point where we can really catch this and position St. Louis in a unique position to be uh a leader in AI. We're already a leader in ag tech, geospatial, all of these things. So when we bring these together and we start developing that talent early, it will look like all the pieces fell into place, but it will be very thoughtful uh that we are looking forward rather than looking at where we're at today, but where we can be tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 19:19

Yeah,

Mentoring Young Inventors

SPEAKER_03 19:20

that's incredible. Uh Mark, anything to add to that too? Yeah, man. You know, inventing stuff um it's kind of the American way. So uh, you know, if if you want to drive the economy, you want to inspire um young people to invent stuff, you have to show them. You know, you sort of have to set the environment. Um, you have to equip them, right? And that's everything that's happening in this week to show them, to set the environment, to talk to them about what the potential is and how to support them. If we can get that happening here in St. Louis, we can get that happening more. And again, it could be it could be like a 14-year-old that's uh you know, goes home and and says, Look, mom, dad, I want to vibe code something tonight. And maybe they don't know how to do it, maybe they don't know what the resources is, but you know, they experienced this. They had a chance to put their hands on a keyboard, they had a chance to maybe there was some you know mentor that was like, hey, all you have to do is this, this, and this. Look, they're gonna be, they're they're gonna code something up, man. And you know, in in high school. And the more they practice that, the more that they do that, the more they're gonna be inventing stuff. Yeah, that's exactly what we need to move St. Louis along. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

And just having somebody that believes in them can be a change in their mindset, that they know that they're worthy, that they can do things that people might have underestimated them in the past. So we're bringing in kids that might not have innovators and entrepreneurs in their community and showing them what leaders look like, how we're coming together, and a career that can be very well paying, that keeps them here in St. Louis, that can provide for their family in unique ways. And so I think part of that is that mentorship, as you mentioned, Mark, is showing people that we believe in the next generation and we're gonna support them in a variety of ways. So this is only one week. You can only accomplish so much, but we want to create momentum where we can build it over the next year, where everyone is looking forward to this. And for me, a win is like you said, that 14-year-old that this changes their life. One kid in this entire week that we change the trajectory of where they go in their life, I think makes this a over overwhelming success.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

So and as you continue to go year after year, that 14-year-old kid then becomes an 18-year-old kid four years from now. And then that 18-year-old kid's mentoring those 14-year-old kids. And I think it's all a sense of community. It's like those, you know, let's say this kid, and they're not all in St. Louis area, maybe throughout Missouri, but let's say this kid lives in a small town in Missouri, and it's like that is not cool to be on your computer. It might be cooler to do something else. But then you get into this group in this room and you're like, wait, like I don't just see this stuff on the internet or in San Francisco, like this stuff's right here downtown at the post building, the most one of the most historic buildings in St. Louis

AI Democratizes Invention

SPEAKER_02 21:44

and the slide and all these things where the mail used to run down, you know, and then But we talked about AI for good.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

You know, one of the best things about AI is it does democratize your ability to invent something. Yeah. Right? It you you know, you can um maybe maybe you didn't have the training before. Maybe you didn't know how to code before or whatever. There are people, there are people getting on Claude Code and vibe coding entire 20, 30, 40, 40,000 line apps that never never coded in their life. But they're like, man, this is like 80% of a product right here. That that could change the world. And so to teach kids how to do that, and you know, I know there's lots of opinions about this, like, you know, what's ethical, what's good, what's right, um, what's human. Um, but I'll tell you what's human is put putting that power in the hands of a young person with an idea that has something that no one else has thought about before. That's that's human, man.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Yeah. No, that's great. It might, so you run, or were you about to jump in with the case?

SPEAKER_01 22:41

If I could, I'll just share kind of what motivated me for this is my kids. So my nine-year-old vibe coded his own video game. He he can play his own video game with an idea he created uh that we made. My other son didn't want to do AI or anything in that realm. So he made a physical science kit that he wants to get out to kids to learn that science is cool. That's that's STEM. That's everything we're doing is just helping that next generation. And not everyone maybe has parents that are going to be supportive or understand vibe coding. But if we get the mentors in place, we can give those kids the tools to be successful. So everywhere across uh the state, as you mentioned, small towns and here in St. Louis as well.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

And I think it gives you an uh an actionable way to test something and fail fast. And that, you know, we've yeah, failing fast because it traditionally that video game project would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars of production. And if it's what did, you know, then you then you lost and you failed, and then you go work in the real world. It's like now they have a time to try new things and be like, what am I passionate about?

Solving Niche Problems

SPEAKER_02 23:38

Is it like what problem am I gonna solve? Like, for instance, we work with a lot of restaurants. It's like, what's a problem that restaurants have ordering the right amount of food? It's like, can I solve something for them with an easy app on how many steaks and how many chickens they need to order each week? And can that save them 10%? There was a podcast I listened to from a guy that's from St. Louis, Sam Parr, and it's my first million incredible podcast, him and Sean Purry, and he's from St. Louis and went to Slough High, and and he talks about just solving niche problems and like used to be there wouldn't be enough, like there wouldn't be resources being put at dental offices to be able to solve a problem on collections because there was bigger problems with dental offices. But like if you can solve that one problem for a dental office, that could be a million-dollar business. That's right. You know, and that that's what inspires me about it, and I have young kids too, you know.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

Yeah, man. And I think we're we're sort of at this pivot, we're at this age, right? This inflection point where if you look at big corporations, big enterprises around the country, there's tons of tech. There's there's uh applications and services that these big companies have that they can't even go touch because it costs too much money. You know, you need you need millions of dollars of engineers, you need to write hundreds of thousands of lines of code, you need to do all this work to go big, get back at that code that was written like in the 90s or the early 2000s or whatever. And so it's weighing companies down. Yeah, you know, with this technology, we can reinvent that stuff. You can redo those apps, you can do digital transformation on this nasty old tech debt code that's all across the country. That will also sort of upgrade the country. It'll make what you just said, right? This this idea that you have to solve this particular problem and that that particular application for like dentists, man. You know, the dentist is gonna probably dentists right now are doing some vibe coding coding, right? They're trying to figure it out, whatever. It doesn't mean that you know they should go with that vibe code just for my software engineer friends out there. You should you should bring in a software engineer, right, to help you sort of implement it and get it done. But um, you know, just enabling democratizing the ability to develop applications and do and do new ideas, it's it's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

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Upshot Coffee

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Lindenwood in St. Charles, their Clayton location called Hi-Fi, um, and then Flyby over in Tower Grove, their newest location. Um, and they also sell their coffee online everywhere. If you guys haven't added Upshot Coffee to your STL bucket list, it's time to try it. Some of the my favorite people in the industry and some of the best coffee in the game. So you've spent a lot of time in AI, you've spent a lot of time in AI. I mean, so the the big worry that we hear is the

Will AI Create Jobs?

SPEAKER_02 26:30

jobs. Do you and we've heard the Sam Altmans of the world and the Zuckerbergs of the world say, like, in my opinion, this is gonna create more jobs. Obviously, there's no data because it's still, you know, you see companies that lay off a bunch of people, but you also see companies that spun up that hire a bunch of people. So I don't know the numbers, but like I don't know if one of you guys, I don't know which one of you want to jump in on that. But do you have any opinion on that statement at all?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

I think that it gives the opportunity to solve problems. And that's as humans, what makes us unique. We want to solve problems, we want to be creative. And so the example you used, solving dentist debt, I know that was from my first million. So uh Sam and Sean, and I love that Sam's from St. Louis, but uh Sean had a quote about how his goal would be that he gets to work for his kids someday and they get to you know have problems, he gets to just use his expertise. And that example with the dentist was uh somebody that his parents own a dental office, he was solving a problem they're encountering. I think that's always going to be something that as we're looking at opportunities, we're gonna look around and see the problems that exist and ways that we can solve them and use our human creativity. And so we hosted a vibe coding event in Umsal, and it was the same thing that we had a student that his parents couldn't afford a CRM. So he was able to vibe code them a solution, a very simple CRM. They could have things that they could automate payments to make sure people are not losing their insurance coverage and maybe uh create more value for their customers in something he was able to vibe code in a day. It's not gonna be something they sell or that they grow, but they could have something, a foundation to build on. And I think that's always gonna be there. There's always gonna be problems to solve. We just have new tools to solve them.

unknown 28:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:01

Yeah, you know, all the business people out there, the the temptation is to look at your quarterly earnings and saying, hey man, maybe we can uh maybe we can let some of

A Race to the Bottom

SPEAKER_03 28:10

these people go. Maybe we can lay some of these people off and we can we can bump up our quarterly earnings. We can certainly bump up the earnings for the year. Um and maybe, you know, we can get AI to do the work of those people that we lay off. And uh some companies are trying to do that, right? Some big companies have tried to do that and lay it lay people off and try to replace them with AI. Look at man, that's a race to the bottom. You're you're making huge mistakes. If you're a business out there thinking about doing this, whatever, it it might help your quarter, it might even help your year, but like three years from now, you're in a bad place, man, because AI is not gonna care about your business in three years from now. There's nobody that's gonna be carrying your business forward. So if you're not hiring new hires, if you're not hiring junior folks to come in and like own your business, like like carry a mission forward, you're not gonna have anybody building anything, making anything, or caring about your company. That's the human aspect of doing business. And so, you know, it it's it's a mistake to do that.

The Radiology Lesson

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Uh, I I will say that um when you look at the opportunities to reinvent, you know, to to work off your tech debt, all of those things make make um make make working with AI the opportunity. Jensen, Jensen Huang, the CEO of NVIDIA, uh famously said earlier this year that um the people that work in computer vision, right, the AI to be able to see things and imagery and things like that, which is kind of my background. He said a lot of people were predicting the first medical profession that will be overtaken by AI, like don't go into this profession, is radiology, right? Because computer vision is doing so well reading x-rays, reading all the different you know, images and things like that. And what happened, what happened with that? More people are needed in radiology because more AI is being used, more people are being tested, more cancer is being discovered, more ailments are being remedied, but we need more radiology. It's a booming industry, not less

Equipping Your Team

SPEAKER_03 30:14

because of AI doing so well in that medical profession.

SPEAKER_02 30:18

Yeah, that's that's interesting. And I I I I think that, yeah, to your point, it's like the people thing. So Gary Vanderchuck just said on a podcast recently like, I have 4,500 employees, this other agency has 4,500. They cut half their workforce. I'm still better because my 4,500 employees have new weapons to use, which is the AI. So like he talks about it as like a weapon. It's like Salesforce was a weapon when it came out, HubSpot's a weapon. You want to equip your employees, and I weapons maybe not the right word when we're talking about defense, but like you want to have as much stuff in your artillery employees. I mean, we hope they care, right? You know, and you want to give them as much resources. So, like my 15 people with the tools that we have now can do the work of a more work now. Like we're able to edit podcasts faster because we have technology that flips between the cameras. So now we can do double the amount of podcasts. We can have more conversations like this, you know, stuff like that. But like to your point, it's like it's not just getting rid of staff and having a good quarter. It's like, okay, how can I equip these people with the most tools possible? I find myself investing more. Like I haven't looked at the PL recently, but like we're spending money on all these credits and all these different things.

Summit & Expo Lineup

SPEAKER_02 31:17

So, like, you're that's also labor cost there that's going up. So, like, it's like where do you, you know, where do you find that? But I don't want to go on a tangent. I know we have a goal here to promote an innovate innovation week, but um, just to kind of tie everything together, can you walk through the weekly schedule for those listening um that are interested in buying tickets? Um, can they come to just one event, all four events? Like, kind of walk me through the the event structure and everything like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, so we want to invite everybody to be part of this. It's gonna be a special event. So Innovation Week kicks off with the Innovate USA Summit and Expo. So the summit will be fantastic panels. We have uh Jesse Puji will be our keynote speaker. We talked a bit about uh the panels we're gonna be doing, talking about the spirit of St. Louis uh AI Innovation Center. We're talking about AI for good. Uh, then we're gonna lead into the expo uh where we're gonna be able to have hundreds of students from across the state, uh, especially kids representing St. Louis and being able to see ways that they can engage with exhibitors, understand different career opportunities. And these are industry connections that are gonna be hiring and they want to be able to identify great talent early. So, as you mentioned, we're not looking at ways to be able to cut today. We're looking at ways to be able to grow for tomorrow. So we want to get them excited to be able to build and know how to use these tools. So uh we do have the in the Summit and Expo ticket is available. We can also have uh people coming in for the expo. The expo will be completely free for students. That's what we're really excited about. That's who we're helping. So there is no cost to the student. Uh, we're working with multiple school districts. So we want to be able to make this available to everybody.

Awards & Hackathon Finale

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Um, and then we're gonna have our award ceremony. We're doing award soiree with uh champions of innovation at the St. Louis Science Center Planetarium on Wednesday evening. Very thankful for the partnership with the Science Center. Beautiful facility. And if anyone has not been there to the planetarium highest fidelity projector, yes, uh the one of one in the world right now, I believe. So uh really exciting to be able to have that venue and show what innovation looks like in action. Uh, innovation is thrown around a lot, but when you can see um the projector and be able to bring in leaders to be able to gather, talk about where we're going as a city, it's gonna be a special time. Uh and then on Thursday. So during this time, uh, we're gonna be doing the hackathon from the end of the expo at 4 p.m. Uh, everyone's gonna be coding for 33 and a half hours, that flight time of the Spirit of St. Louis. We're gonna be concluding on Thursday, where we're gonna have some judges looking at what was built, how these can be applied, and then we're gonna do a finish line celebration with RECF at T-Rex. And so that's gonna be happening uh from five to seven, where we're gonna be inviting select uh hackers that had gone through this process, celebrating what they built and ways that they can engage with leaders. So, again, creating that mentorship, bringing people together in the same room. We were virtual for so long that many people miss that opportunity to be able to build their networks and meet people in person, that they know them as a face on a

Events, Partners & Sign-Ups

SPEAKER_01 34:04

screen, but we want to be able to connect a little bit deeper. And so this is what we're trying to create on our first week. There's also a variety of community events. So, not everything that's happening in during Missouri Innovation Week is going to be things that we are leading. We're opening this up to everybody. So, universities, the community, and we have some great partners that are putting on other events. So we want to be able to have something that elevates our entire community that everyone is represented.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Yeah, that's awesome, man. That's super inspiring. And and really being able to bring people together. I know there was a gap this fall with like other events that were known to happen in St. Louis and like being able to bring this event together. And I love that you mentioned it's not just entrepreneurs, these are kids that are gonna be involved in this event. So I think that's gonna be unique and work and hopefully people that are listening. I mean, how when's the, you know, when you can, I mean, kids can just I mean, sign up, RSVP, kind of walk me through that process. Like you're reaching out to local schools and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

And we are, and so we want uh any of the students to come prepared so uh that they know that this is a great opportunity that they don't want to miss. And so we're working with the school districts to know who's coming. This is gonna be a ticketed event. So everybody that can sign up as of today, uh, innovateusa.org. So we want them signing up. We want to be able to fill the room, we want to make this accessible to the widest audience possible. The post building's huge. So let's fill this, let's bring that energy, let's get the leaders there that they're able to engage with these students. And I think when they see that joy and that awe, when the kids are interacting with exhibits and seeing science in action and seeing robotics and building maybe a robot for the first time with RECF, it's gonna be really exciting. So we have universities that are participating. Umsil is uh a presenting sponsor. We have uh SLU, we have Harristo is gonna be bringing out some VR equipment, we have Maryville bringing out robots. Like we want to make this accessible that everybody can come out and see innovation in a new way. So uh that's our goal is to be able to bring in partners from across the board. And uh, as you mentioned, that there were events not happening this year with Startup Week. Um, but Matt Minetti, who had led that in years past, is joining the team. We have over three dozen leaders from St. Louis and across Missouri that have championed this. So that's what we want to create is a connected network. Everyone's aligned on the mission, and we want to do something special

Bucket List Picks

SPEAKER_01 36:12

together.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Yeah, that's amazing. So it is the STL bucket list show. For those that are coming into St. Louis for this episode, what are some spots that they need to visit while they're in town? You've been in St. Louis. Uh, were you born here?

SPEAKER_03 36:22

Oh, I was born here, man. Yeah. So what's your hospital? It's not here anymore.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Um what are some bucket like for those that are coming in town for the panel? I mean, you're probably gonna be hanging out with some guy, some people that week too. I mean, is there some certain spots that you want them to visit?

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Yeah. Um, look, I don't is there a game Wednesday night? Um There might be. Um look, that's where you know I would take them. And uh it has nothing to do with the Taylor family being uh sponsors of ours. Yeah, but um it's thrilling right now, right? And and uh to get them plugged into um to City, right? I think that's that's where I would take them. Yeah, that's where I'm gonna take.

SPEAKER_02 36:56

I know it's not like a well the it's a bucketless spot, and it's the energy in that stadium and then also the local food that's in that stadium, too. So hey, you can try 20 different local restaurants that's on here. I mean, the Taylor family did an incredible job with that. So what about you? It's a bucketless spot you're gonna send some people to.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

So for for Mark, before he takes them over to the city game, come over to the planetarium, yeah, check that out. Yeah, two exit stuff. Exactly. So same night uh on that Wednesday. So come over and see what's going on, head out to the city stadium. I live near the hill, so uh always want to show people what is special, what is unique. All of our neighborhoods throughout the city uh is something that I think is worth celebrating. And uh it's hard to come to St. Louis and not share some Ted Drews with somebody. So uh toast the ravioli on the hill, then head over to Ted Drews for dessert.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

Go to Myla's and get a ice cool Budweiser. There you go. A little Budweiser, like a little frosty glass of Budweiser, and then I mean Forest Park, send them over there. I mean, I always tell people, you know, from other cities, like these people that are maybe coming in from California or Texas, and you know, like having Forest Park in the heart of our city and having, you know, all these institutions inside that park. I think that, you know, you you take it for granted. I grew up in St. Charles and it was like, oh, we go to the zoo. It's like it's you know, you take those things for granted. Now that I have two kids, two babies that are under two, it's like now I get to take them to the magic house. My wife's at the magic house right now, and it's like I get to take them to the science center, to the National Train Transportation Museum, to the zoo for free. I mean, I can spend a whole day in Forest Park and not spend any money. Go to the art museum, walk through there, sit on Art Hill, have a picnic, bring some food, then go to the zoo and not spend any money as a family. It's just a great place to hang to raise a family. So um, gentlemen, thank you so much for coming on. Um, I'm super hype after learning more about you, learning more about your mission, and and really, you know, we're glad to be there. So our photographers and videographers are gonna be out there capturing the event. You had some good ideas before he got here of micing up some of the panelists after the panel and getting some fun clips like that. Yes, turning it into some social content. So um looking forward to seeing you guys that week and uh thank you guys both for coming in the studio today. Yeah, thanks for having us, man. Yep.