The Future of Web3 and Technology: Roxette Irvine - AI Forge

SPEAKER_00 0:04

This is the Beyond the Story Podcast, a show that goes way beyond the story. And now, Sebastian Bro. Roxette, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I'm doing well. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Good. I feel like it's way overdue for us to to officially meet. We met in passing at Miami NFT Week. I think it was this year.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Was it?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Maybe last year.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Maybe it was last year.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

I think it was last year.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Maybe. I don't I don't know what year it is. It's always been a blur since 2020.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Well, the f it is what day is it again? So um we first connected because you were over at the lab. And I swear I connected with every single like community director at the lab since I was there. I think I left and came back one time, but I always stayed in touch. Oh, that was why. Because Pam Granoff was was uh in before you and I used to help out with a bunch of events there because I was like, why was I still that was why because I was like, I'll MC your events if you want me to. So we did a a couple different things over there at uh at the lab Miami. So you had a pretty good run over there, huh?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, that was like two years, two and a half years, and then sold it. So new new ownership is at the lab. Oh, really? It's fun. Wow. Yeah, we haven't fully announced it yet, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Interesting. Yeah. So um so were you are were you part of that whole like like for how long have you been associated with that whole community?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

So I started like truly being in Miami Tech like five years ago. Started running an accelerator. So I would do events like everywhere. Um I would do it in my like venture city, venture cafe, the lab, I mean just every co-working space, anything that had to do tech, I was just throwing events. Um, and then took the role as a managing director at the lab for the last two years and a half, and then yeah, kind of did that kind of crossover new ownership, and then now I'm doing AI at the Hub Logic, which I think would probably be maybe the next lab. We'll we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

So what's what's the Hub Logic?

SPEAKER_01 2:17

So it's a it's a co-working space down in downtown Miami. So we have an office there. We took an entire floor there um for the AI Forge that I run now.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

I love that. All right, so let's back up. So just for some context, just to help our listeners better understand, um, we like to tell people's stories on this show. So when people ask you kind of what's your story, or you know, fa based on you know, career-wise, life-wise, um, where did it all really start to really bring you to present day?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

If we start like So we're doing readers' digest, 30,000-foot perspective here. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

I mean, so I mean, we start with like my parents like immigrated from Nicaragua to to Miami. So I was born and raised in South Beach when it used to be like rocking chairs and old people. So I've seen the change of like my Miami girl. So I'm a Miami girl. Love it. I know. I'm like straight out of Kendall though.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

You grew up, you had a little bit nice on the beach, so I'm South Beach, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

So so Kendall, South Beach.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Those are the streets of my youth, though. My Washington Avenue, I spent a lot of time on.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

A thing Euclid. That's like so. I went to Feinberg, I did the Nautilus thing, went to Miami Senior High, so the whole Shabam. Yeah. Um, I actually started in hospitality and nightlife. Um, I used to be a promoter at like nightclubs, used to work at Hooters in Bayside. So that was the best one.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

I'm so upset that that's Hooters. I know, me too. That was the best Hooters because you go before heat games.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Uh, or I used to go when I first moved back, I would go for watch dolphins games on beautiful Sunday afternoon.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yep, yep. We would get like all the Heat players, all the dolphin players. We even had like, you know, the Madrid players one time. So that was we had PK like at our table. That was really fun. Very good. So we would get like a lot of celebrities, um, number one grossing hooters in the world. So that was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Wow, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Then I went to the Clevelander, which was that that was fun as well. So, like really true OG hospitality, yeah, nocturnal nightclub, DJ'd there one time. That was fun. So, so true, true Miami girl. Um, and obviously, you know, my parents, they're like, we immigrated to give you a better life, not so you can be a bartender or like a promoter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

So they're first never understood the whole entertainment life when we were younger, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Yeah, but I mean it just a lot of be like a lot of money to be made in that industry, right? So uh they're like, you got to do something serious. And I was like, okay, let me Define serious.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Define serious.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

I I got into a medical device company um right off of college. Um, so I worked for a startup. That was like my first startup experience. Uh, we were working with a doctor who was a neurosurgeon who was creating a new implant that was going to redefine like minimally invasive surgery. So we worked with like a Korean manufacturer and some other company out of Philly to create it and we would just kind of run this. And then um eventually the company got bought out by like our manufacturer. Um, I left and went to another company, which was a tech company. And that's where I really started work like learning about co-working. I was like, what is co-working? Yeah. So I'm selling this like software that manages co-working spaces, started meeting tons of people all around the world who manage co-working spaces, and really fell in love with this whole like startup industry. And I was like, that is so cool that people can just, you know, create jobs and create businesses out of the air. And it doesn't have to be freaking motor businesses or like my dad owns an AC company. Um, it could be something cool, you know, like something techie. So that really got me interested and went into this long journey of like, how do I help these people? Um, and that's where I like ended up being like, okay, let's start an accelerator and got into the whole let's help tech startups.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Um and that's what the lab's original game is that they still do that?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

They still do. I mean, so JP, you know, Kapala, who's like the original, you know, like investor and the really true guy, the visionary behind it after like Daniel Weafy, he really, you know, kind of helped them turn it into what it is. That was like their whole vision was like, we're gonna take an area which was Winwood before it was Winwood and incubate spaces and create this vibe around the tech community because it didn't exist. So, you know, out of that came Endeavor, and out of that came all the people that followed, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Waffle Wednesday. Waffle Wednesday is like I just told Will a couple weeks ago he needs to bring that back.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

We started doing it again. Yeah, it was uh it was fun, you know. Yeah, the little pancakes.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

That's how I met him. I walked in one day to uh live ninja and was like, what's going on here? Like waffles just wanted to introduce myself and we became friends, and the rest is history. That was like 10 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yeah, I love Well Man. He's like a true Miami guy too. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

He really is. He really, that's why he's like, my wife really loves North Carolina, but I told her I can't give up my Miami roots, so we're gonna do both. You know? They're up to some cool shit. Yeah, on chains doing the damn thing here with that Disney deal. That really uh I gotta, you know, you and I were talking a little bit about the world of Web3 before the interview, and uh, you know, seeing projects like that really restores some hope in my soul for the future of Web3, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

There's still gonna be a future. It's there's always ups and downs, right? Of course. We we've been in blockchain space since 2012. It nothing's changing. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

Um and everything's moving to the blockchain. If you didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Um and I can't wait for it. I'm I'm totally here for it. Um, so uh Miami, nightlife, tech space, uh, startup world, and then um did I see New York too, somewhere on the Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

So I'm I've always been between New York and Miami. Um, it just kind of naturally happened that way. People just thought I was like Jewish and a New Yorker and I just kind of ran with it. I was like, sure, I'm you know, Shabbat Shalom. But um in reality, I think it had to do with like my upbringing here in South Beach, right? Being around like a lot of my Hasidic Jew friends. So but I would travel a lot to New York because of I was in in this co-working software like job for a while. So um most of my clientele just naturally gravitated to really high-end big developers in New York. So I just kind of focused on that area, got a 347 number, because when they would see 305 number, which I regret giving up, they'd be like, You're from Miami, and they would kind of freak out a little bit, like, Oh, it's not, you know, it's not something serious down there. So once I had that 347 number and just would be like, Yeah, I'm I'm in Manhattan, yeah, all the business came in after that. So I would go travel between New York and Miami a lot for our clients, and especially in Toronto, you know, it's so close. I also had tons of clients in in Toronto, so I would just be up there constantly.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

New York's great. I love that place. I thrive really well when I'm there.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

I love it there.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

I would I have a pending. I'm trying to go spend a couple weeks there and just show up and just see what happens. Um, and just find who do I know? Who can I meet for coffee? Who wants to start a podcast? Coworking really affords a lot for that.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, those those day passes can uh you can parlays into some great relationships. Yeah. And write that on my list. I'm like, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Check out the farm soho. It's like this guy, Lucas, owns it. It's has the same vibes as the lab, really cool space.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I love it in New York. All right, I'm trying to get there before winter. That's the goal. So uh present day, uh, you're you're working on the investor side, you said. And uh so break that down. What's that look like?

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So originally my goal was to help entrepreneurs go from zero to one hundred. So they would have an idea, we would get them to an MVP, and then we would start preparing them for fundraising. So over the years, naturally it went focused from the zero to one hundred to more let's focus on your pitch deck, let's focus on your terms, let's focus on what investors want. And then it just gravitated towards like, okay, let me make my first investment into a company. Um, let's do venture partnerships with different angel investors and you know, kind of continue that route. And then it just naturally fell into that direction where I was dealing more on the investor side than the founder side of helping them grow, but now working more with investors to help them find better jobs. Opportunities, got it. Yeah. So it just naturally happened that way. So, you know, I joined AI Forge, um, and it just has been a really, really fun ride so far.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

So is that exactly what they do? So they've it's kind of like a matchmaker for investors to find opportunities?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yeah. So I mean AI Forge is more think of it like it's an accelerator, but I would like to call it a venture studio because it's truly a studio. We incubate these 11 founders in downtown. Most of them have come from all over the US. One of them actually came from Italy. We give them space to work out of there for 12 weeks. We invest in them and we give them resources. So we're really incubating them here in Miami. So it's more of a studio rather than the accelerator. But we'll call it an accelerator.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

What do you so what do you what do you what do they do after you guys?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Well, we still hold their hand, you know. So I mean we we still have to like help them, you know, go on and raise, you know, their their first round.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

So they're becoming founders.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

So a lot of them have it founder experience. A lot of them are in different stages. So some of them already have product, you know, they're they're just here in Miami, building their business here and then connecting with the ecosystem here. So previously as at the lab, you know, I was very much involved in like ecosystem community building. Yeah. So it's just a natural fit, just kind of plugging them in, you know, where they need to be.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

So it sounds like you found your groove again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

I'm not gonna lie, like it's it's it's kind of one of those things where it's like I'm happy to be back, but um, I'm also kind of like, oh God, I'm back. You know, I was enjoying this Pilates venture that I was doing, and I still do. And I kind of was like, man, I really want to focus on that 100%, but that's kind of hard to do.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I just found out there's hot Pilates. I'm like, I'm bad at cold Pilates, yeah. But hot Pilates, wow, that's a commitment.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

So um Web3. We were we were talking about this before the interview, too, and we talked a little bit about it um a few minutes ago. So a lot of people started to hear the words Web3, NFTs, um, digital land, and um, I think it was as with anything, you know, 50% were like, it's all bullshit. The other 50% were like, I'm gonna check this out. This is the future. So it's been about two years now since everything kind of went kaput and started to reorganize itself, if you will. Um where are we headed now with with Web3 in in your opinion? Like what uh what what's what's next and realistic for the world and society to start to embrace?

SPEAKER_01 13:01

So I think it's it's more of like a mistake of emerging technologies and how they market themselves, right? So, you know, blockchain has always existed, that technology has always existed um since 2012. Really, you know, the the guys that were mining Bitcoin, you know, were educating people about the space, telling people like this is gonna be the future. It started getting a mass adoption around 2015, 2017, right? With all the techies trying to figure out like how can they make this a little bit more mainstream? And then what you saw, you know, twin in in pretty much the last two years was you have bad actors that kind of ruin the tech for us, right? So um with anything that people don't understand, they're going to fear it, right? Because they don't understand it. Um, which is just a bad PR like campaign on on Web3. But in reality, the people who are building the tech are still gonna continue to build, they're just not gonna be out there, you know, kind of associating with the mainstream kind of PR that's going on with Web3. So I'm kind of seeing a lot of the people who were focused in blockchain moving into AI. Um, and my biggest fear now with the AI stuff, because AI is also not a new technology. It's been around for 20 years. Um, you know, a lot of industries have incorporated for the last 20 years, they just haven't been vocal about it. And then now that we have all this massive PR campaign about the fears of AI, the same thing's gonna happen, right? You're gonna have these people who are gonna be bad actors, and we have to kind of learn from that mistake, right? Um, and it's a very easy transition too from blockchain to AI, right? It's all data. So you have like data centers that have to manage all this, right? So now if you're managing a Bitcoin mining center, a mining center, you're gonna have to manage, you know, an AI center because it's eating up a lot of data. So I was talking to the CEO of like Hummingbird AI, and he mentioned something yesterday on our call. He was like, you know, one chat GPT prompt is equal to like a quarter of a water bottle, right? In terms of energy use. So think about that, right? There's gonna be all this stuff that's happening that is very similar. And so now I'm just saying, like, oh crap, there's gonna be a war on AI, there's gonna be a war on technology, period, no matter what. Yeah. Um, but we as a society have to figure out how do we do a good PR marketing campaign so that we can avoid the bad actors and not fall in this trap that we constantly do, where it's like we don't make it accessible for everyone, right? Web3 terms are inaccessible for everyone.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

I mean, well, also in a phenomenal way to to to combat that is obviously just the way it's always been, which is disruption, constant disruption. So I was watching a video. Um actually, Gary V of all people posted them, and I've known Gary forever, and uh um, so I've listened to everything he has to say because he's dead on. He's very rarely wrong. And he said, you know, over the next 10 years, we're gonna experience a tremendous amount of deep fake videos. And for those who don't understand what a deep fake video is, it's a video of you saying something, but it's not really you, but it looks like you and sounds like you, which is fucking terrifying. But um so I started to think about that, but I I didn't go into fear mode of like, oh my gosh, here we go. It was more of until the person creates the solution that picks up on deep fake videos or disrupts the the opportunity to actually create one, or what once it gets posted, or whatever it may be, there's always that next evolution that problem solution, problem solution, the way that the world has continued to evolve. So um completely agree with you on the part where, yeah, there will be a huge war on things. When has there not been? Um, but it's the people that are able to really figure out and navigate through that. I think that's what that's what makes it exciting. Listen, this web three is going to make life easier and more convenient, as technology has always done. So that's that's the good news.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, and in blockchain, you know, AI and blockchain go hand in hand. Like we're gonna need to, there's a company that actually is working on out of our cohort that's working on auditing um AI. So if you're taking a data set and you're changing it, or that data set is biased, you're gonna need a blockchain ledger to, you know, keep records of that data.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

So I mean, it's just gonna go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

It's just security has to, you know, there's gonna be there's a huge gap with security. And like I'm total rookie too. Like I just got my speaking of my v Friends 2 jacked on Tuesday for clicking on a spoof fucking email. Why only me. Um, but it looked just like it was just like Cameron V Friends. I was like, I'll take some trading cards, didn't check the URL, didn't check the email, and then checked v Friends Discord and wow, wow, wow. It's okay. It was a v Friends 2 and it was like 200 bucks. We're okay. We still we got the physical, we have the physical v Friends up in the up in the up in the building here. But to that point, as I would consider myself somewhat seasoned in the world of Web3, having bought 800 NFTs and all of them were worth about 62 cents. Um and then I hosted a uh a web 3 show for about a year and a half, too. So I had the opportunity by default to learn about what was going on and still clicked on a spoof email, connected my wallet, and got my V friends 2 jacked. So um my point with sharing that is to throw myself under the bus on I need to sharpen up on my skill this uh security skills. But that's me. Like, could you imagine the average person, like my mother trying to buy Bitcoin and buying an NFT? I mean, she called me. In fact, I wrote a whole bit about this because my mom's like, I don't understand what's up with the MFTs. And I'm like, she's like, but what are they? And I don't under what do you mean by token? And I thought, wow. And I again, if it's my mom, that's gotta be a majority of people that really don't understand what the you know where this is all at. Um, but security, like what what how are we going to resolve someone not stealing your wallet and one because that was the thing. Open C is like, hey, we're gonna try and not sell it or like people can't buy or sell it. Like that was the only thing. Like, we're not gonna get it back because it's gone. It was on the blockchain, and that's peer-to-peer. So the million dollar question is how do you enforce some sort of security measures on a peer-to-peer platform to prevent stuff like this from happening?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

I mean, it's trust, right? You have to have that trust, but it's also like you don't trust anything. So, I mean, I don't keep anything, you know, I I keep everything in in a separate USB. Like, I don't keep anything, yeah, in a cold wallet. So, I mean, it's I hope it never gets lost, but like that's just the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Like, some people would put those in like in a in a bank safe deposit box.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah, and then it's it's it's one of those things too where it's like you don't you should have multiple types of like wallet addresses. Like I have a public one and then I have private ones that you probably could if you took the time to trace them back to me. But I have like multiple wallets and I just kind of spread everything everywhere as well. Like just because I don't want everything in one thing, like I just spread it everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Set up multiple wallets, make them private. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Yeah, no, I mean it's it's just like um, you know, banks. You should, you know, you have like your personal banking account. Diversify. Yeah, you diversify everything. So you have something in one place, something in another place, just in case.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah, of course. That's that's fantastic. And thanks for that. That's a that's a good tidbit I'm gonna go take and run with. So um, here we are on almost end of September 2023, which is wild to even say. Um, what are you excited about for the rest of the year based on what you got going on and what's on your plate?

SPEAKER_01 20:44

So I'm um celebrating my one year anniversary of elopement with a wedding in Tulum.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Let's go. Congrats on that.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

So I'm like really stressed about that because it falls right before our demo day. So I have to do a lot of planning personally and then a lot of planning for our co-host.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

So you're a this is just an anniversary trip. So you've already been you're already eloped.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah, we eloped, but we're doing our wedding um for our friends and family. And I'm like, oh God, I I never thought destination wedding, you know, I thought it would be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Oh, there are a couple logistics.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

There's a lot of logistics. And then on top of that, doing demo day that same month is like that's a lot of planning. So the next two months, I'm just gonna be head down planning all these events for personal and work. Um, so oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Yeah, that's good. Well, congrats on Crushing Life, congrats on the on the one-year anniversary. Um, and uh it's great to finally meet you and have a conversation. Thanks for coming down to the studio. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Thank you for inviting me.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Uh, it's just funny. I mean, uh, this is this conversation is a ripple effect of the lab Miami. When I told you that Wifi and Danny were sitting at the door with the desk and like brochures about what it was all about, like way back when. I don't even know when that was. Had that not, I wouldn't have known and you know, continue to stay in touch. And then, of course, the tech community, another sentiment that's uh to Miami's tech community um that is uh pretty strong in my opinion and will continue to evolve. So um great to have you down. Thanks again for being on the show. And I'll uh I'll see you at a comedy mic soon, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Oh my god, yes. We have to give a shout out to the Miami comedians.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah, let's go, Miami comedy, Manny. Manny I heard you've been trying to get this one to do some comedy. Gotta like team up teamwork here.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Gotta get a few drinks in me and then I'll That's what everyone says.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

A couple drinks, I'm down to do it. Like, let me tell you something about alcohol and comedy. Like, they are a terrible comedy, but maybe one or two to like loosen it up a little bit. But let me tell you, just a quick hack in all seriousness, it fuels the anxiety. I mean, like flamethrower. People are like, I'm gonna have a shot of tequila and I'll ease out a little bit. It's crazy. I've tried that strategy before, too, when there's a lot in big crowd.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Well, if you're introverted like me, you need the alcohol so you can be like, yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

It is liquid courage. Yes. It is. It is.

unknown 22:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Thanks again, Roxanne.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Absolutely. Until next time, friends. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of the Beyond the Story Podcast. Be sure to appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Be sure to appreciate it. Signing off from the podcast, launchlab.com studios. We'll talk to you next time.