in August 2014 my wife Becca decided she
was gonna quit her job and open a
boutique her idea was to combine a
clothing store and a barber shop it
would empower men so they felt great and
looked great from head-to-toe a totally
cohesive transformative retail
experience and I said what any sane
rational business minded husband says
when their wife proposes a completely
insane idea let's do it so June 5th of
2015 at 44th and Tennyson we opened and
right out of the gate we decided we were
gonna use technology to its fullest we
were gonna blur the lines between online
and offline because you see in the
future the Internet is gonna be all
around you you won't be able to escape
it it'll connect everyone and everything
and we're gonna lead the charge and one
day we were vetting our vision with our
friend drew and he said well bro like
you know you know I don't know I really
like I hate technology man hold on drew
firstly you're a millennial it's illegal
for you to hate technology secondly you
really don't hate technology
everybody loves technology and the only
way I'll accept the I hate technology
claim is if the person making that claim
came here today naked on a horse without
a saddle
and if you did I tip my hat to you
except I don't want to risk bringing
manufacturing into this it's not that
you hate technology it's that most
people just follow the law of
technological adoption and I know this
is a real thing because I read it on the
internet goes like this
everything invented before you were born
just how it's always been
everything invented before you turn 30
innovation everything invented after you
turn 30 Satan this is science
you can google it okay all right we're
worried for you drew interrupted oh yeah
Internet of the future it's best
illustrated the little story I heard
there was a period of time where you
could count the things that you owned
that had a motor maybe it was an
electric fan or a washing machine or if
you were an early adopter a car but as
motors became easier to manufacture it
became more accessible you lost count of
the things you owned that had one
introduced the microchip and for a
period of time you could count the
things that you owned that had a
microchip maybe it was your brand-new
calculator or your digital alarm clock
or the family PC guys remember that it
sat on the floor and was the size of a
washing machine and came with like 20 40
AOL discs
but after enough time you lost count of
the things you own that had a microchip
I bet right now every single one of you
in this room can count the things that
you own that connect to the internet on
one hand you've got your laptop your PC
you've got your smartphone seems like
the same thing right
you've got Xbox or Playstation or some
entertainment device mark my words
in the next 10 years you all are going
to lose count of the things that you own
that connect to the internet no
exaggeration everything will be
connected
it'll be washing machines and
refrigerators and mattresses or even
things totally decoupled from the things
they control like levers and switches or
even just buttons Oh bro like buttons uh
you know who needs internet connect two
buttons man are you gonna do this drew
the entire time cuz look if you're
asking that question it tells me you
don't know how innovation works because
it's not like someone's gonna come up to
you and say hey look I have a button
what what do you want to do with it
hmm we should connect it to the internet
doesn't make any sense no you see
desperation breeds innovation
my wife shop is very much a reservation
based business you can book with a
barber for cutting a shave or clothing
consultant to help you pick out clothes
and that oh I see you totally thought I
dress myself this morning
I get that a lot but for serial or
startup which means we can't afford to
be turning away walk-ins because we're
understaffed so what do we do got it
we're going to take that button we're
going to connect it to the Internet then
every time we turn away a walk in we're
going to press it it's going to generate
a report telling us the days of the week
and the times the day we're turning away
the most business it's gonna give us
intelligent scheduling we're gonna gain
insights in the whole my favorite part
it's gonna be real time Oh bro you know
like real time everybody's got a TD
these days oh my gosh drew you're still
here look it's not that everybody has a
DeeDee is that everybody loves instant
gratification
no oh man not me you know I have
patients oh yeah oh yeah
tell me drew how does this make you feel
you've been there buffering makes you
want to punch everything but you'd be
surprised how much you put up with
buffering every day without complaint
it's true for example let's say you're
on your favorite shoe website and you're
browsing around you find a pair that you
like and you want to see if they have it
in your size so you click it and wait a
full minute for the page to load it gets
worse it gets worse cuz once the page
loads you see they don't even have your
size you would never use that website
again so why is it when you go into a
shoe store and you find a pair that you
like you'll wait up to five minutes
while an associate rummages and back to
see if they have your size tell you why
because it's the way it's always been
from my generation buffering is
unacceptable so we built this app right
into the shoe display you browse you
find the parrot you want you tap it name
vendor size and quantity in stock
buffering destroyed
here's something interesting
each one of you brought in today the
ultimate buffer destroying device it
helps you stay in touch get breaking
news see if anybody else in the theater
today single with just a swipe
it's your smartphone smartphones awesome
nah bro like smartphones are ruining
society they're turning everybody into
zombies man oh I see you think cell
phones are socially isolating devices
you say that like it hasn't been the
case since the beginning of portable
media
nah man that's different because they're
reading local news so they're still
connected with their neighborhood man
I'm watching what my best friend is
having for lunch doesn't get much more
connected than that but ultimately comes
down to how you use it and a smartphone
used effectively is the most empowering
device in human history for example you
book an appointment my wife shop and
just before you arrive
the team has sent this notification it's
got your name your email your phone
number number of visits how much like
chitchat cuz sometimes you want to be
left alone right the service the time
your photo notes the team has left about
you and notes you've left for the team
and one day a notification came through
from a gentleman who'd never booked
before and the note that he left the
team it said I'm deaf
so Dee his barber she runs up to me and
says did you see ya what are you gonna
do well we offer everybody a drink when
they come in so get him a bottle of
water you know what I'm gonna do what
I'm gonna practice my sign language well
that's brilliant
I guess I'll get that bottle of water
ready a few minutes later a gentleman
approaches and because we have his photo
we know it's him and he comes in and he
says and I say but then he turns to Dee
who says to which he replies and
naturally her response is whoa whoa whoa
I don't I don't really know sign
language I just memorized how to say hi
welcome thank you for coming so she
takes him back sits him down 30 minutes
later he's a brand-new man and he's
smiling and were smiling he thanks us we
thank him and he exits the shop and he
stops right in front of our big sign
it's also connected to the internet he
pulls out a smartphone snaps a selfie
later that evening I pull out my
smartphone and I go into Facebook and I
look him up and I'm humbled to see that
he has made that selfie his Facebook
profile photo the future is coming it's
not what you expect you already used to
your cell phone being connected to the
Internet
get ready for the internet of things get
ready for Internet connected buttons
everywhere shoe displays coffee tables
even dressing rooms I know I know
it's really scary now but you've done it
already
Oh crappy internet connection get ready
to feel the same way about your couch
but you know how we'll know it's a good
thing just between us here just right
here cuz when the couch of the future
goes down for a software update and our
kids or our grandkids are sitting on it
going oh my god this couch is useless ah
cuz you know their gun we can politely
remind them that it's okay the couch
isn't useless it's just temporarily the
way it's always been