Alright, everybody. Welcome back, to another episode of Passion to Profession brought to you by my good friends at eBay. It is the national week. We're dropping a very special episode here with a really cool brand.

I was telling, the guys before we hit record, it seems like everywhere I go, the Arena Club brand and logo is there. And I think that's the sign of some really good marketing.

And so I'm excited to dive into the story of Arena Club, the why, why now, and everything in between. I'm joined by Brian and Jesse who lead the Arena Club team. Excited to jump into this conversation. Brian, Jesse, welcome.

How are you? Great. Thank you so much for having us, Brett. We're super excited to be here. Yeah. Thanks for the invite, Brett. So I mentioned this is an eBay sponsored podcast, and I understand there's some cool news upfront.

It is the national. So you might have some news to share regarding Arena Club and eBay's relationship and maybe, something cool that is happening.

So before we dive in, I wanna make sure I give you all the space to do that. So, if you've got some fun and exciting news to share, now is a good time for that.

Sure. Go ahead. Do you have any news to share? Yeah. So we do have some very exciting news to share that we've been cooking up with eBay over the last several weeks and months.

And, we're really proud to announce that we are in a club, and we are launching our very first physical repack or physical slab pack in partnership with eBay, launching the category.

So we're we're really, really excited. You could buy it today, and, we're looking forward to expanding and dropping more products in the in the future with them.

So So it's been a big journey because we started with digital as you know and digital slab packs and so forth. And it's our foray into the physical world in terms of, physical slab packs being available on eBay.

I love it. And, obviously, when you think of marketplaces, you think of eBay. When I think of, emerging marketplaces and innovative marketplaces, I think of arena club. So it makes for a, awesome news to kick off the national.

And I'm assuming you all have a a big activation and a big setup, but maybe just for listeners who will be at the national, I'm assuming you your team will be there. They can come by and learn more about arena club at the show?

Absolutely. We we are gonna have a pretty nice sized presence at the national, even larger than the first few years that we were there, and this is gonna be a banner year for us.

We're gonna be selling, the slab pack products, the slab pack products at the, at the booth.

Lots of activity, lots of guests, lots of, influencers and so forth. We're gonna swing by, the booth and and and do a lot of fun games and giveaways and everything else. So definitely swing by Arena Club's booth, when you have a chance.

Awesome. Alright. Let's dive into the Arena Club store, story. Brian, did a lot of research on you. Obviously, serial entrepreneur have built some pretty incredible businesses, that many, of us have used.

I know I've got, two little girls. The Honest brand is is certainly a a company that, when I was researching, I was like, well, we've got a lot of Honest brand stuff, throughout our house.

So I was excited to talk with you, not necessarily about wipes and stuff, but, mostly, like, why cards? Like, you've build all these businesses, LegalZoom, ShoeDazzle, The Honest Company.

How'd you get into the the card space and and why the card space right now? Sure, Brett. So thank you so much for being a a customer of all my businesses.

But, yeah. So I look. I've much like a lot of your listeners and yourself, right, I I've been collecting cards forever. You know, I started collecting cards when I was about eight years old.

My dad took me to my first Dodger game in LA, and I fell in love with the sport, rode my bicycle to, Fountain Valley cards and comics. That's where I grew up and, went and bought a Steve Garvey rookie card.

And so I was kinda hooked ever since that and just kept continued collecting. I mean, most of my friends stopped in, like, junior high school, high school, you know, college. I just I just kept going.

But anytime I was in a in a new city, I would put my head into the LCSs and see what's there and realize at a very young age that I was, was cheaper to buy a a Magic Johnson card in Tampa, Florida than it was in Los Angeles.

Right? And so started building up my collection that way and just kinda grew with the hobby over time and have always been into it.

Have I've kind of amassed a pretty nice collection at this point and something I'm really proud of and something that I'll I'll keep forever and hand off to my kids someday.

That's amazing. Jesse, I wanna bring you in. How did you all get synced up on this idea of arena club?

You know, what maybe observations had had did you make in the current, environment, and maybe take us into maybe those conversations on the problem that you're solving with Arena Club early?

Yeah. So I I started collecting when I was, I guess, I was a kid. Actually, it's Kobe Bryant's rookie year.

Just growing up in LA, and that's when I started watching basketball, and that's when I started collecting cards. But I it was a little different from Brian because I I I stopped when I got to high school.

And so, I I missed all the learnings of, like, what's happened in the industry that kind of, like, pride and kind of figured out for, like, what what we're building here, why we're gonna build it.

So so collecting cards for me, it's, like, super nostalgic. I've always been a big sports fan, and, it's been really fun to, like, get back into it and kind of, like, rebuild up my my my collection.

And so, you know, when Brian kind of, like, came to me with this idea, we were working together at his, venture capital fund, prior to starting ARIA Club, but, he kinda just had these, like, you know, these, like, nagging, like, things he wanted to change.

And, I was like, well, first of all, what is grading?

Like, and what where's what happened to the Beckett magazine? And, like, what eBay like, what's going on? Like, card shots? Like, he caught me up on all this. I was like, let's just look and dive in. Yeah.

So when I when I came up with the original idea for, for arena club, I had talked to, to Jesse about it during lunch once, and he told me that he loves sports and cars and everything else and was kinda jiving with what I was saying.

And so, I kinda brought him back into the into the hobby, if you will.

Back into the He's been loving it ever since. Right? I love it. I love it. Hey. That that's a that's a a a great entry point. Not only come back and collect cards again, but try to build a company that solves problems along with it.

Maybe, Brian, what what did you see early based on your experience of being a collector? And maybe there's some things that are happening that you you don't like. There's some things that are happening that you do like.

Obviously, I'm sure technology and innovation was kind of part of your mindset as you were going into this. But what what was that big kinda problem that you felt like arena club could come in and and help solve?

Well, it was really about bringing the hobby forward, right, into, you know, the for the current generation using technology to make it better for everyone.

And so for me, it would really I came at it from initially from the the the grading angle to the marketplace angle to even the transparency angle, and I knew I could do all of this through technology.

And so with on the grading side look. We've all been there where we've set in course to get graded, and you get cards back and you kinda wonder, like, why did I get to this grade?

Right? And I I've I've wondered this since high school. Really, it's like I was sending cards to grading companies and I would get cards back and, you know, I thought they were perfect, and they come back as an eight.

You know, I thought I I would send in cards that weren't perfect, and they'd come back as tens.

And it just seemed very haphazard to me, truthfully. And I always wondered, like, gosh, I wonder if this could be done better. And with the advent of AI, I realized that it could be done better.

Right? So what we do here at Arena Club on the grading side is we use a combination of AI and humans to really grade the card as, effectively as possible and with as much transparency as possible, using technology.

And we provide you with a full grading report as to exactly what is wrong with your card and why it's scored a certain way.

And so that's that's the grading portion. The marketplace portion, you know, I've I've thought I could streamline that too by using blockchain. And so, like, I I love eBay. I've always love eBay. I buy a ton of cards on eBay.

And so but I always thought, okay. How how can you streamline this using technology? And the answer was blockchain. And so everything that we have at Arena Club is mentioned on Polygon, and then stored physically.

The cards are stored physically, and then you can buy, sell, and trade them very quickly with other showrooms without ever having to remove it from the the vault.

And so it's a it's a seamless transfer of cards. On average, you know, our cards trade multiple, multiple times before they're exited out of the vault.

And so it's, just a streamlined process. You know, there's, you know, instant payment, instant transfers, guaranteed authenticity because everything is greater than slammed in our case.

So that was the the the marketplace portion. And then the repack portion really came to us a little bit later after launching.

About six months after we launched, we realized that we could add technology to that part of the, the hobby as well in terms of ripping, and and and chasing.

And so, you know, it was really about providing people with live checklists that are real time, giving people live eyes into which cars that they could hit, which cars are you chasing, And then also getting insight into which cars were hit and which showrooms were they going are they going into.

You can track all of this at a Reeb Club and we just thought that would be a much better experience than buying a repacked product and not knowing, you know, where you're getting.

And so even when we do these physical repack products with eBay, we are going to provide a lot more transparency checklist, odds, and everything else that along with it. So we're super excited to be watching that product.

I definitely wanna get into the repack portion a little bit. And the one of my big observations that in looking at Arena Club is just the the the the value you all place on transparency and making sure the checklists are visible.

And when a card goes, which card replaces that, which I I think is good.

I think, you know, repacks might have a little bit of negative connotation because of just some bad actors who aren't as transparent. So I wanna dive into that a little further.

But I'd be curious just, like, in this this is either one of you, but, like, entrepreneurial mindset, like, the way you've thought about business, the way you've thought about starting business, maybe in other industries.

Like, what sort of lessons maybe have you taken from those previous experiences and applied it to the the build, of arena club?

Gosh. It's a it's a great question, Brett. There's a lot involved in that question, but, because I I've been at I've been building companies for, gosh, close to twenty five years now.

And so I've made a lot of, mistakes along the way that I learned from. You You know, it's really funny. Sometimes it's like you make a mistake and you're like, okay. Go do that again and then you'll do it again. Right?

And so sometimes I made three mistakes with the same mistakes. Right? So but, you know, you do learn over time, but the the the one constant that I have really learned, it it's the six the the the recipe for success. It's it's team.

That's all it is, Brett. It's it's the team. Right? So for for for me and for Jesse, we we knew very early on that we had to assemble the strongest possible team we could from technology to marketing to logistics to everything involved.

And so you you want best in class. And the only way you're gonna build a best in class business is by having an a plus team.

And so we built that over time. It took a while. It took a while to to really get to the place we're at now. But right now, we are pretty streamlined.

We're humming. You know, we're we're we're doing great. We're we're we're gelling and and we're executing, and that's what you need. Vision is one thing and and strategy is one thing, but, really, you need the team to execute it.

I that's what I would say even at, in companies I invested is the idea really doesn't matter, Brett. Ideas are literally a dime a dozen. They really are. You need the team to execute it. And so that's the the number one lesson.

That's number one, number two, number three. Truthful. The top one, two, three. I don't I don't I don't want you to to share any trade secrets, but I love the conversation around building teams and people.

When you're and you are coming at this from a whole new perspective. Right? You're talking about AI. You're talking about blockchain.

When you are thinking about adding people to the mix to help build and scale this business, how much of it are you like, when you're evaluating talent, like, are you are you considering, the their current skills and experience and pairing that with maybe, product knowledge or industry knowledge?

Like, how are you evaluating all those various components to make sure that since you're evaluating the team so much that it they align on all of these topics that you feel confident where you're building the right team who can kinda steer you in the direction that that you wanna go.

Yeah. I it's it's you definitely need a a mixture of people on this team. And I think the easiest way to understand it is you need people with great taste.

Right? A lot of the intangibles. It's like, think about we're building a brand with cards with very specific products, very specific campaigns. It's like I'm sorry.

No amount of chat GPT querying is gonna, like it's not gonna give it to you. Like, a lot of people just, like, innately innately will, like, have that. And a lot a lot of folks have, like, deep knowledge of the card industry, the hobby.

They'll bring that taste to, like, what what we're doing. And so on top of that taste component you need in in folks, you know, really what we look for is, like you know, sounds simple, but it's it's it's not very it's not easy to find.

It's a combination of three things, and it's people are really willing to work hard.

Right? Roll up their sleeves, get the job done, do do whatever the smallest task is, and then, like, also be able to execute at the highest highest level in terms of strategy.

That's one. Number two number two is, you know, there has to be a good cultural cultural fit.

Right? To be likable. So those first two are kinda obvious. But then really the third one, it's, like, not as obvious, but it's like, I think people who do best here are very curious. They want to learn.

They want to get to the ground truth of whatever it is, whether it's finding a piece of data that's gonna support a point, learn a new coding language that's gonna help us be, like, way more productive, keep up with all the new AI trends so it could work as most work as productively as possible.

People who are curious do extremely, extremely well here because it's like we're all learning.

We're all learning. I mean, I don't care if you've been building companies for twenty five years. You're still you're still learning the new things every day that makes it easier to build companies in your twenty sixth year.

And it's like, people people who aren't humble about being curious and learning and think they know it all, it's like, that's that's usually not a a good a good fit. Yeah.

Like, I I like to say that when you when you're at the earliest stages of a company, it doesn't matter what company it does, but in the early stages, you really wanna surround yourself with very, smart, hardworking, I call them athletes.

People that could kinda jump in and just wanna take on more challenges could do they're jacks of all trades.

Right? You could throw them here. You could throw them there, and they're willing to learn and figure things out. So they're kinda juggling different tasks because that's a start up. Everyone wears different hats in a start up.

Right? But then you start scaling, and then that's when you start bringing a little bit more knowledge and expertise in terms of categories. Right? But initially, you don't even need that, really. You need you need to know enough.

Right? You need to know enough, but if you know too much, it's not a good thing either. It's I know that sounds funny. It's true. I I went I went from selling legal documents, I mean, corporation documents to selling high heeled shoes.

I don't know. I've never seen I had no idea how to make a high heel for shoe towels. You didn't like wear them to work for a couple weeks?

Really? Like, do I know do I know anything about making diapers and selling diapers? No. But that's the honest company. It's like you you just have to be smart enough to figure it out.

And I say at the end of the day, business is business. It's all p and l. It's balance sheet. It's doing the right marketing, branding, customer service, support, providing that great experience.

It's all really the same for every business, the core. I love this idea of not you know, you don't need to know everything, and it's impossible to. And then you even alluded to those who know too much maybe aren't the best fit.

So it's like this openness that we have. And I think part of the openness that you have in the early days, right, is to, hear from your customers and get that feedback and get that feedback from the people who are on your team.

I'd be curious, like, early days of a a start up feedback is so important. It's critical because you you don't wanna be building something no one wants or needs.

But maybe talk about that early feedback at Arena Club and just, like, how that information got disseminated and how you all made decisions, based on the feedback you got from the market.

K. Oh, man. Early days feedback. Where to begin? It's it's really interesting because, you know, like, when most companies launch, it's like you kind of, like, work out the kinks as you go.

But, like, we painted, like, a really strong vision of where we're going. So we have, like, a lot of customers who are just, like, die hards.

They would just work through everything with us, shout it from the rooftop, like, what we needed to fix because they really believe in what we're doing, and they want us to win.

So I I we we listened to a lot of what they had to say, and it's like, we're super, super thankful for, like, all of them.

A lot of them are still with us today who were with us from the very beginning. So it's really, like, you can't ignore those people. Like, they're they're worth their weight in gold, and, like, I cherish all of these relationships.

I still get emails from some of our earliest customers, and we'll get on the phone with them and just, like it's just so fun to catch up because it's almost like we're just, like, their little baby that's kind of, like, growing up, and they're proud of us.

And it's like we're reminiscing on the days where it's like, we couldn't even put one foot in front of the other. So, yeah, that feedback is it's it's amazing. It's incredible.

And it's like that if we didn't have the vision that help people understand it and, like, a product that was usable to them that demonstrated some value, it's like we wouldn't have been able to get it to begin with. Yeah.

I totally agree with what Jesse just said, but it's, you know, during the earliest days of any business, you gotta you gotta take customer feedback very seriously, really understand, you know, that market fit, right, and what's gonna fit that what what we usually look for and customers are looking for.

But at the same time, I I you know, I'll I'll just say it. Customer feedback is one thing.

Customer surveys, we're running all the time. But at the end of the day, the founders, me and Jesse, have to make that decision. Right? And sometimes that decision isn't gonna be the most popular decision to the customers, truthfully.

But we believe in that decision, and we just believe that that the path that we're gonna take that customer on is the right path. Right? So there there's a those are the tougher decisions.

Right? Right? But you sometimes you just gotta pull the trigger and do it. Can you dig in deeper on that? Like, key decisions and just the, conviction you have as a business leader in what you're doing.

And even though you're getting feedback that's trying to push you off that path, you knowing and believing in what you're doing so much that maybe the customer's mind's not even there yet and they can't see.

Like, talk about, like, that push and pull a little bit more when you're, making sure you're or getting the right feedback, but maybe not necessarily using it right away.

Yeah. I think it's the it's the Henry Ford quote we've heard a million times, right, about the people people if you will ask for a faster horse, but he built an assembly line or or whatever whatever it is.

Right? And so that's what led to the car. I totally botched that, so apologies. It was just like Analogies live are really hard.

I just don't know. What what how's yeah. Whatever. So but that's that's that's really it. Right? Because, like, in order to build a, like, scalable sustainable business for the the long run, ultimately, like, the business has needs too.

That and that's not always, like, the same as what a what a customer's pain is at the end of the day.

So that's not necessarily saying it's, like, we don't, like we're we're still tackling a lot of what our customers, like, really, really want, but, like, you can't do it unless you have, like, a business to support a team to, like, do all these things.

So Yeah. Like, I mean, for for for for us at Arena Club, like, a perfect example of that would have been on the on the, the slab pack product.

When we initially put the optionality in there to, you know, buy back the cards, Initially, the customers didn't want it. Right? Just to let you know. It's like they were like, no.

I'm just gonna keep my cards. I don't wanna sell them back to you. I'm gonna sell them somewhere else on eBay and this and that until they until they really experienced it and understand they understood the ease.

Right? The instant liquidity. Right? And that kind of and we knew that that would be the case.

So we went forward with it anyway even though after surveying, you know, our top 20 customers, like, more than half of them were like, they're not that interesting. So so we push forward with it anyway.

So it's it's the same with any business, Brandon. Any business hits these, these these points in time where, like, the customers are kinda used to a certain thing and you wanna bring them on the journey of your what you've envisioned.

And sometimes you just have to pull them on. So I mean, look. Will we make mistakes? Sure. We'll make mistakes. Right? But, hopefully, it's like we'll make mistakes and rectify it and correct it and kinda move on.

Right? It was like that's business. Ups and downs and all arounds. I'm not you you mentioned, the slab packs, which you go to arena club, home of the original slab packs.

You know, I can't think of a an a trend in this industry that has grown, more in a short amount of time than repacks, and it's been just wild.

It seems like every not when I'm not even trying, every conversation I'm entering, like, it comes up, and there's a whole thread about it.

So this is something that, you know, you're really focused on and I think is you know, with anything new, it can be very, very polarizing, especially in an industry that is like the hobby that's fragmented.

It's still getting caught up on technology. Maybe talk about your mindset with repacks and just, in this early era of repacks, what you saw that you wanted to make it such a central point of what you're building at Arena Club.

Well, yeah, let's let's let's take a step back on that one, Brett.

So the reason why repacks exist, I believe and Jesse believes, is because there's less and less value in retail boxes. Let's be honest. Right? It's like, I look. I I stopped buying into I'm just You okay?

You okay? Do you take care of it? No. I I stopped I stopped buying the brakes. Right? I I was kind of, like, you know, heavy into buying the brakes. And, I stopped for a while because I wasn't getting any value.

Right? So I was just like, okay. I'm gonna I'm just gonna buy into one more. Like, last week, I bought into one and I'll I'll let you do it. Yeah. This is Bullpen Bullpen, Bullpen Sports out here in LA.

I bought it for a break, and it was, like, I don't know, a few $100. And I literally, Brett, got nothing. Nothing. A big bagel. Out of out of I think it was, like, 5 or $600 I spent, I think I got $10. 15 dollars worth of cards.

Right? And that's why repacks exist because we are giving people value. A lot of repackers like ourselves who are on the up and up I'm not saying everyone. There there's some unscrupulous players out there as you mentioned.

Right? And I hope they all go away, and I hope they all face karma someday. Right? But what we're trying to do is make the hobby better, and we're trying to make it exciting and give people at least a card worth collecting.

Right? So even if you're buying a $100 repack product and you get a $50 card, let's say there's a 50% floor, at least we're gonna give you a card that I believe you could hold on to, and someday, it'll go up in value.

You can collect that card.

Right? So that's what we're trying to do with a ring club. We're trying to make every card kind of exciting, no matter what you hit as opposed to buying a retail box and losing 90% of your your your money right off the bat.

The, the I love this this, kinda opening up my mindset on just, like, the way you're approaching repacks.

And I'm assuming just like in these early days, there have been individuals who have maybe ended up like you were on the breaking side with a repacker somewhere else and then ended up going to arena club and having a really good experience.

What have you learned about just, like, the way you position arena club and the education around repacks?

Like, what have you learned in terms of, like, the way you've gone to market and and what's been important just to make sure that the the consumer understands that what you're doing is, you know, value based and you're you're looking to make sure you you they don't end up like you did with nothing after spending kinda $600.

Just just twist the knife. Yes. You want me to I got to answer this. So, I mean, if if you look at our brand, it's it's it's in every product we make, it's all built on, like, trust and and transparency.

Right? From our grading or transparent grading reports to our marketplace, you can see the provenance of of every single card.

And then you go to our slot packs, and there's there's transparency everywhere from hit rate to checklist to hit feed to showing who gets what.

So so, like, that's just that's just part of our DNA. And every single thing we build, like, we have to we think about transparency, and it makes it way harder to build everything, by the way.

So it's just it's just part of our DNA. And so I think I think when when when when when the slap packs really fit in, it's it's it's the entry point to our ecosystem. It's the entry point to say, hey.

We're willing to, like, share with you, like, one of the most painful parts painful, but most fun parts of the hobby, Ripping, but painful when it's like you have a story like so I don't mean to cut the knife further.

You have a story like Brian's. Like, we're trying to, like, make that part, like, fun. Like, really, really fun. And so we we see that once people get in, buy a slab pack, they explore the marketplace.

They find other showrooms. They they they chat with other users. They build they build these communities. Right? And these are, like, real real things that happen through the SlapHack entry point.

And I think that the reason why we're doing well, Brett and we are doing well. I mean, it could always be better, but we're doing well. I won't tell the team that you said that.

It's it's because we are trying to give as much value as we can in that slab pack product because we know that if they have a good experience there, they it opens up the rest of the platform to them.

And what we've seen is that the more value we give in slab packs, the more action we get in our marketplace.

So they're taking those cars, they're putting them in the auction, they're buying, they're selling them, they're trading them, and the activity in our marketplace has gone through their roof.

We have a handful of customers who are making a living on our marketplace today.

Right? And it's growing. And and then that that also in turn leads to even more people sending in cars for grading because they're having a great experience with the arena club.

They know about our our transparency, our customer service, everything else, and our grading has gone up.

Right? So what we're trying to do is uplift an entire platform through giving more and more value through Slack acts. I love this idea of making sure this moment this entry point is excellent for any new user.

I've seen some TikTok videos or videos out there about, your team setting up at shows and just, like, buying really good cards to make sure those really good cards are in the platform and are a part of the repacks.

How how have you all thought and, obviously, like, it's it's a marketplace.

There's cards coming from everywhere. But how have you all thought about making sure that the contents of those, slab packs are, good enough for those, new customers or existing customers coming in and using it.

Yeah. I I think it's it's that taste component I alluded to earlier. Like, I I can't stress how important that is to have within the DNA of our company to have specific team members who have that eye.

They have that ear to the street of, like, what everyone wants and what everyone should want, what will be cool. Like like like, when Justin bought that, like, Cheetos art, like, both of us all fell out of our chair.

But he told me how much he paid for the Cheeto. I was about I was like, what? He was like, you're doing it. It was like his second month of the job too.

I was like And then sure enough, it went crazy. We sold so many, Cheetos Cheetos are. And then someone hit it, the the Cheetos are. And I remember they put it to Golden Auction, and they got, like, $87,000 or something. Yeah.

Yeah. I was just I was like, oh my god. We should've kept the Cheetos are. So what what were we thinking? But but, yeah, it's just it's just like things like that. It's like Yeah. You gotta have the right team with the right taste.

Right? And, yeah, these guys these guys just embody it, honestly. And so it's we're we're we're on a quest to have the most exciting chases, most exciting grails, most exciting, just lineup cards.

It's really through and through. We want that taste to shine through. Yeah. I mean, the most important thing for that you should know about Arena Club and and and us, right, is that we will constantly innovate.

Right? We are we are innovators. Right? We create, we innovate, and we bring things forward as opposed to just copying what's out there.

Right? We we're we're we are not copycats. We're we're we're trying to push forward and and and and be creative here, and we try to bring as much creativity and innovation as we can to our customer base.

Where do you see I know you mentioned block chain. You mentioned AI. Where do you see the opportunity for most innovation in the hobby and with what you're doing over the next kinda three to five years? Yes. That's a great question.

I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you. But, look, I I think there's still a ton of innovation in terms of live. Right? I think live is kind of still as in its infancy in a lot of ways. I mean, whatnot has really shown the way.

I think eBay live has really kinda picked up some steam here. Finax live, also I mean, everyone's pushing on that live channel, the live breaking, everything else, but it's so figured it has a long way to go.

And if we're gonna go into anything, we might look at that category. Right? Because I think it can be innovated on.

I think it'd be done way better for the customer. Right? So we have some ideas around that. Not gonna share them today, Brett. Sure. Sure. We have some ideas around around live. We also have some ideas around global.

Right? I think, if you really think about, you know, where the hobby is going, I think Mike Rubin I've never met him before, but I think Mike Rubin is doing an amazing job in terms of bringing the hobby forward globally.

Right? I I I I stopped by the London store. Okay. It was beautiful and beautifully done.

And if he could open a thousand of those across Europe, that's amazing. You know, a thousand of those across Asia, that'd be amazing. Right? So so if he can push that forward, I think it's just better for everyone, for the entire hobby.

So I think that that there's a lot of innovation to be had globally and a lot of learnings too because every every region has a different type of collective mindset.

And a lot of it's the same, but some of it's, you know, there's a little nuances that you have to deal with.

So, anyway, super excited about that. What else are we excited about? Yeah. I mean, we're still recording. Right? Don't we? Yeah. Yeah. I know.

I I there's it's I think it's just exciting to see how many, like, new entrants there are and how many people are trying innovative things. Like, we've seen so many different, like, takes on the Slap Hack's product that that we started.

And it's just it's just interesting to see everyone, like, trying new new things. And, I think that's, like, super, super healthy for for the ecosystem and pushing the hobby forward.

I love it. It's been awesome learning about your mindset and mentality, building arena club, super helpful. I wanna I wanna maybe dig into kinda your personal collecting here as we're kinda rounding this conversation out.

Maybe take us on the inside. Like, what is what is a card in your collection when you think about your collection that kinda defines who you are as a collector?

At least for myself, I'll speak for who you can talk about your collection. But It's it's a very sad compared to your collection.

No. It is. I'm I'm very deep into the history of Asian athletes, just being Asian myself. And I I've I've I've amassed a pretty decent collection in terms of what I call Asian goats and and Asian icons.

And so it can be anyone from Normie Kwong, right, who was the very first professional football player. He played in the Canadian Football League. So I have his rookie card.

Right? And from everyone from Sudohara o, the Japanese baseball player that really led the way for Japan and and the, you know, the Shohai Watanis and Ichiro's of the world came from from from his humble beginnings.

Right? So I read Chan Ho Park, the Korean pitcher, that was the first Korean major league baseball player. He's an he's an icon.

And so these are, everyone from Sammy Lee, who was a Korean diver, who represented The US in on on the Olympic team, but he's from Korea. He was born in Korea. Chloe Kim, the snowboarder, I've got a few of her rookie cards.

You know, Jeremy Lin. I mean, these are all iconic Asian athletes that I love collecting. I just and and right now, it's just been a boom lately with all the Asian athletes coming in, and I couldn't be prouder for all of them.

With with a collection that, you know, there's a there's a lot of avenues and directions you can go down. It's also it's it's it's that's a fun collection because it's you're not collecting one specific year or one specific product.

Maybe, like, has collecting something that broad, has that opened your eyes to maybe new sets and new eras and of new years that you never knew about?

Absolutely. I mean, I I'm I'm I'm I'm gone deep. Right? Oh, man. I mean, I've even got to sing a cricket player from India.

Oh my goodness. Is he a player? Like like, literally go to cricket, and and I just love it. And I it's I started watching cricket because I was just like, who is this guy? Like, who's the greatest cricket player in the world?

And this is Indian guy. And it's like I was like, I gotta get his card. And so you you start going into different areas in sports and and regions that you never expected to be in, and finding different sets too.

Right? Like, I I like gosh. I mean, some of these older Japanese sets are are quite amazing. Some of these Korean KBO sets are amazing too. But, yeah. So I've just been going deeper and deeper and deeper into it.

I've always been, like, collecting Asian players, but just in the last, call, five years, I've gone pretty deep. Do you have any, themes or, specific players you collect, Jesse?

I've I've my my answer is a lot less interesting than than the which is very easy. I have a I have a collect I have a collection of brightly photo cards on the in the office.

Sign. Those are all Brian's, but no. I I I grew up, a big coat, right, Lakers fan. But I I sadly lost my collection in in in a fire. And so Oh, no. I know.

I know. So the vault business model is near and dear to me. Sure. But my goal, I I do wanna buy, like, a Topps Chrome CodeBright rookie card. I wanna get, like, a high graded regular one, and then I wanna get a holdout one as well.

Because I just it's hilarious that that card just on screen. You know what I've fallen in love with? I I Justin knows this, but I've fallen in love with the blank sleets. Okay. Yeah. Clean cards. Oh my god. They're so pretty.

You know? Like, they're so simple, and they remind me of, like, like, mid mid century modern architecture. Just, like, very simple and clean. No. Seriously. It's like I I've been collecting a lot of blinks plates lately.

That's awesome. This has been fun. Let's maybe leave the audience with one more. What are your you know, everyone's gonna be running around with, like, a chicken with their head cut off at the national.

Everyone's gonna get all those, their adrenaline's gonna be up. They're gonna be really excited. They're gonna come home and be very, very tired, but probably still be thinking about the industry, the hobby, and what they could do next.

What, like, what would you say? Like, what are your final parting thoughts to any collectors listening in as this space completely changes and evolves and arena club's a big part of kind of that evolution?

Like, what would you leave, collectors with as we before we get on out of here?

Yeah. I mean, I'd say if you're coming to the national, stop by the arena club booth. We're gonna have a ton of fun happening. Come by a slab pack. We're gonna have a lot of special promotions happening.

You'll meet a lot of people on our team, who who invest representation of our of our brand as well. I think it'll be a great way to learn more, meet folks, just see how much we we we value community transparency.

Then if you're not going to the national, you know, I think just download the app, give it a try, poke around, explore the marketplace.

I think you'll quickly, like, understand, like, the the vision for what we're building in terms of, like, a one stop shop for trading our collectors because you can't be at a card show all day every day, so it's nice to have an app in your pocket that kinda gives gives you that that escape.

So come meet us if you're in person at an event or the national or give it give us give us a try.

Yeah. I think that's a a all really good points, Jesse. And I I would just say just have fun. Have fun collecting. Be a kid again. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's really what it's about at the end of the day is collecting.

Right? And and, you know, honestly, of course, flippers exist and people are doing it for money and so forth, but but really go back to the core, collect who you love, hold on to it. You know?

Always cherish those memories of of of those players that you you watched on television or maybe hopefully live and and and and fall in love with it and and and collect their cards and and hold on to them and pass them on for generations because that's what I'm doing.

Brian, Jesse, this was a ton of fun. Really appreciate the time. Thank you, Brett. Really appreciate you. Thank you for all you do for the hobby. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, Brett.