Initial Discussion: Operations Documentation & Process Standardization Role

Your name and contact and basically website got floated into one of the, like, our, my little group chat things saying like, hey, here are these people, they just kind of got, um, reorganized and they're amazing, here's their skill set. And that, um, that kind of floating at the same time that JD and I have been really getting extremely focused and figuring out how to better apply all of the various kind of, um, AI platforms and really process design. That's a big part of what we do as well, but that kind of the nexus between those worlds. And the blurb about you hit all of those buzzwords, so I just wanted to hit— wanted to jump on a call and catch you up on kind of what we're doing, see kind of what's next on the horizon for you, and just see what available bandwidth works like, looks like to maybe work on some stuff together.

Nice. Awesome. I really appreciate the interest in the contact. So that's awesome to be with you guys. Yeah.

Maybe though, for JD's sake, why don't you give him a bit of background on you and then what you were doing, and then we'll in turn kind of give you the really fast, hopefully overview elevator pitch. I'll have JD do that. Otherwise I'll take too long.

Sure.

And then we can figure out, we can kind of go from where we're at and go from there.

Awesome. So nice to meet you guys. Nice to meet you, JD. As you guys know, I'm Brazilian. Like I told James, I'm based near São Paulo. It's a medium city. I've been working with US-based companies since 2020. My first experience was with a company based in New York. We did a research project together. This company was hired by the World Bank and we worked together for two times in 2020 and then in 2022. And my recent experience is with AllUp, this HR tech company, like you guys are based in LA. Joe, the CEO, is based in LA. Watson, the COO, is based in Arizona. I've been working with them since July 2024. And since that, I've been like working as a BizOps person. And basically the right hand of Waston, the CEO. My role at AllUp was basically guarantee that all the new jobs went— goes live as fast as it's possible. Does that mean— Sorry, what?

What does that mean, the new jobs go live as fast as possible?

Uh, basically we are a company like LinkedIn, so our clients have open roles and we have to publish those roles in our platform. So my role was to make sure that these new opportunities went live as soon as possible.

So basically going from customer requirement to a launch status, like available for search as quickly as possible.

Got it. Yeah. And I was responsible to build all this process with Weston, the COO. So we designed all the process. We used at the time Notion, Zapier, a bunch of other tools until we have like a solid admin software to guarantee this, these jobs went live as soon as possible.

Nice.

So, and double-click on that. That's been going back to kind of the customer requirement stage to the launch stage. When you say you're building those processes out in Notion, Zapier, and the other one, that means you're taking it so that customer can load their job in. They're not talking to necessarily human there. There's not like a human account manager.

No, at the time there was a human account manager. So I have to deal with this account manager too. She was actually the person who had to understand their needs, their client's needs. And sometimes we got the JD job description done and other times we had to help them work of the JD.

Got it. Okay.

And so now when, when we had this JD all set, I started the process to upload the opportunity in our platform.

Okay. And so was from a high level, was it taking it from— was kind of y'all's focus taking it from a manual entry and a manual kind of facilitated process to something that was able to be more automated on the backend and maybe the frontend?

Yeah, yeah, especially the video record, because all the interviews for all app roles, they're based on video records. So when I jumped in with Weston, We didn't have the web record, so we have to use another kind of tool to guarantee that the people that doesn't have the iOS, people who use Android could record for the roles.

Got it. And so just because I don't know what Allup is, but what it sounds like is effectively a jobs platform that job descriptions get posted, and then it sounds like that the people applying for those jobs have the ability to basically sit for an interview right there where they're taking a video of themselves and responding to a set set of prompts and then allowing kind of the, you know, the customer to have that, that first kind of touchpoint without having to necessarily screen, do a bunch of screening calls.

Yeah.

Where you have like an HR associate just taking screening calls. Is that the gist of all?

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Cool. All right, um, that is interesting. Um, so then I guess— yeah, go ahead.

No, and beyond that, uh, here in Brazil I also work as a product manager for a real estate, uh, group, and recently I work as a director of innovation and economic development for my city's city hall. So I was at the public sector too. Cool.

Very cool. Okay. And then I guess like, we'll maybe take them for a spin through us and then let's get it focused on kind of our task.

Yeah. So James and I acquired this company back in 2022. It's a rental company. We rent trucks and trailers to the entertainment industry.

Avon Rent?

Yes, Avon. That's correct. Over the last couple of years, we have acquired additional companies in similar lines of business, not directly vehicle rental, but think production supplies rentals, which is tables, tents, chairs, walkie-talkies, heaters. To kind of the same customer base, but kind of through different segments. So we acquired, we have 3 businesses right now. They kind of all need integration onto one common rental management platform. Right now we have 3 separate rental management process or rental processes using 3 separate systems. So the goal would be to unify them in one common platform. Common set of processes and procedures that are specific to maybe their niche, but are generally applicable to the overall industry or the overall organization so that when someone new comes in, they can be trained quickly with the common set of procedures and they can be trained for the, for the unique aspects of maybe the different businesses. I see James is like cringing, but it is kind of necessary to some degree.

No, totally. I was just cringing at the like quote unquote unique descriptor there, but I'll let it.

Yeah.

Where we are, where we could use the most help right now is clearly documenting all of the processes related to this rental management system so that the knowledge that some of our frontline employees and some of our operational managers have are correctly documented and can be referred to by anyone in the company to understand what is going on. Right now there's a lot of institutional knowledge locked up in people's heads. There's a lot of, uh, the way the systems are being used, maybe they're not being used correctly, but they're shoehorning their methodologies in. We want to just make sure that everything is standardized, everything is done correctly, efficiently, and Yeah.

Just to piggyback off of that, when he says there's kind of like 3 different processes, so think about it as there's 3 different business units. Each of them, they all have a lot of overlap, but they all kind of do their process of whatever it is differently. So some of them might rent a truck differently. Some of them might rent supplies differently. They're the same supplies, same truck. But the way they go through that process and that transaction is different. And it ranges from human beings printing paper and handing it to one another and like going through this kind of like paper loop, okay, to like an actual internally developed kind of like cloud-based iPad photo capture, signing a document and having it all kind of get put into a contract package that is cloud-based and able to be accessible. So you have really the full gamut of, I guess, workflows in terms of like tech and workflows and tech stacks, you can call it. But there is this already identified and effectively three-quarters implemented riddle management system that is able to take it all. There is little to no documentation that comes out of the box with it. And it— and as anyone who has ever dealt with any of this stuff knows, like garbage in, garbage out. So if you don't have everyone putting the actual information in in the prescribed way that it needs to, the data you're getting out of it is effectively useless. So the reason— and just to explain away, I guess, maybe the facial expression, it's like the reason why I cringe when he described as like the unique way they deliver it is because like, I don't buy that. It's not like there may be like some— I think it's a defense mechanism that people hold up to make them feel like they are critical and the thing they do is special. But at the end of the day, they're renting a truck to a reality show. So Like, so I just— I— that's where that comes from. But at the end of the day, he's exactly right. Like, I think, like, and like, there is, you know, back to kind of the analysis or the analogy of like, you have the human beings handing paper to one another to the iPad-based system. Like, that's another way, I guess, the outflow of that is like, we can't see what's happening in that paper-based business. Our visibility is 2 weeks behind us. Like, overtime is the best leading indicator we have as like what's going on in that business. And that's not for lack of trying, it's for just kind of like, you know, some of that. But so yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we've thrown a couple different resources at it and tried it a couple different ways. But in the midst of all of this, the film and television industry has really collapsed over the last 2 to 3 years from both labor situations and just like the upheaval associated with streaming and, you know, yeah, the AI boogeyman. So it's very resource thin as we've done that. We have a lot of other M&A opportunities to chase down, but we're at a point now where if we don't actually just standstill for a minute and just really, really drill down on this, then it will just be this kind of truly unintegrated backlog of companies hating each other. So yeah, I would say that's the core kind of focus and application and something that I would feel pretty confident about is able to honestly be done from afar because it's really having conversations, understanding what— understanding kind of what it is. Do you speak Spanish as well?

Yeah, a little bit. Perdón, ya por un año vivía.

Y media. Sí. Um, so three-quarters of the workforce, Spanish-speaking. Um, they are great, honestly. Like, the challenge employees that we have are the ones that have been in the industry for 25, 30 years, and don't want to let go of the paper systems, right?

Um, so yeah, but do you think that those people are going to be able to like jump in a call and like explain to me the, the whole process? And.

Yeah, and honestly, we have like a good amount of this stuff done. It's just in an— it's in an almost unusable format. So yeah, I mean, like, I think like the main thing, JD, I think really the intent would be to kind of help us build our internal repository. Like, yes, get the initial kind of workflows and processes mapped, but then it's like have this kind of backend training wiki. That allows anyone to know, kind of like, be able to jump in and kind of do anything there. There's a ton of stuff beyond that. It's really not like this is the biggest, this is the most mission-critical one. Like, there's no CRM, JD built one.

Like, there's no— Yeah, I have experience with CRM. When I worked at the real estate group, we have to build one from scratch and I have to use other times CRM at Notion and later the other one. I forgot the name now. Salesforce? Oracle?

No, no.

HubSpot. Yeah. What? So, Pipedrive. Pipedrive? No way. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No one ever says it's Pipedrive. I love Pipedrive. Okay, so I guess it's like kind of two questions. I guess there's one other kind of area and segment that I'd want to understand your skill set and background in. But I guess just like, given— before we go there, given the scope, like the case that we've just kind of laid out, can you walk us through how you would approach that, that kind of case and where you would start, what tools you would use, what a deliverable looks like, that kind of thing?

Yeah, first of all, I'm a big fan of Notion. I don't know if you guys have used— here at All Up, we use a lot. At the City Hall, I implemented Notion too. So I really like that tool. And basically, I will try to approach the situation creating a Notion documents. Um, this is the first thing process.

Like, uh, documentation for what we're about.

Yeah.

Talking.

Documentation, documentation. Uh, even, uh, I have to understand more your needs for a CRM, but even, uh, CRM can be built on Notion, but forgive me.

What I was saying is like, we don't, there is no CRM. JD built one, but it's not mission critical. Some of those other things, it's really just the main focus is getting the supporting the, you know, the kind of ERP system and its rollout and getting that training, the process map training and repository built.

So I would approach that situation, the first step is like reading all that you guys already have and then start a process of chatting with people at the organization. And then using Notion or whatever other tool that you guys prefer— I like Notion— try to build the foundations like we have here now. So all the process, we have an easy way, easy format to consume using those Notion documents and even Loom records. So anyone can can consume at any time. And then we have to understand the needs of reteaching the people that I'm working with and like try to put the sense on their heads and make them to— this is the hardest part actually to look at the process and like try to do their best.

I was going to say, it's— I would, it would— I would caution against this kind of being more of a documentation exercise because there is a best practices that we would need to evaluate and see if it actually makes sense the way the system is intended to be used. Because people come up with their own solutions and that isn't necessarily how we should be using the system. So I would want to, to be like almost like a best practice and recommendation Alongside of a documentation exercise.

Yeah, that's it. And after that, you have to teach them. And like, so this is the best practice because that stuff, it's not easy.

That's the job.

But I look at your guys' LinkedIn and You both are linked to Carbon Capital and Avon. The job is for the group. How would be linked to the organization?

The job would be as a contractor to the group of companies. So there's Avon, HDR, and Versatile Studios. These are kind of the 3 companies in that company cluster. Carbon Capital is effectively a special purpose vehicle that I forgot existed except for tax season. But it it was, was the vehicle through which we— it's like an independent sponsor vehicle. It's the vehicle through which we acquired and did some of these deals. I should take my LinkedIn down or update it.

That's nice. Makes sense.

But yeah, so it would be for the group of companies and it would be really focused around working across all three. So as JD said, like, because I feel like JD, you're probably right, it's— we kind of have where things are today captured. It's taking where things are, figuring out the best way to do it there, and then doing the education process. And the kind of like militant reinforcement of you did it this way, don't do it that way, do it this way every time.

Correct. The employees. Correct.

So I guess like from your all up experience, what How— what kind of experience do you have in something like that where it's, it's less like documenting how we do it and more like telling people this is how you're going to do it? Like you're figuring out how you're going to do it and then telling people this is how they're going to do it.

No, I have that experience because, uh, as I told you guys, uh, when I was working to the— that, uh, for that real estate group as a product manager. We have to build like 3, 4, actually 4 different products. And the goal was to implement those products throughout the organization. I did the same at the city hall. I implemented a new SaaS. So I have this experience. It's not like a thing that I never did. I didn't do this at All Up, but I did before at the real estate group at the city hall.

Got it. Okay, cool. Okay, so my last, just kind of like, because we're coming up here on time, I think. I— well, at least I have to jump here at the half hour, but tell me about your experience with leveraging AI platforms in your day-to-day.

Of course, all the Disney AR platforms are new products. We have products being launched every day. But since I jumped in all up, I've been very— I've been using this a lot. Even the website that you guys probably saw, my personal website and portfolio, I did using AI. So It's not like a big deal, big challenge for me.

How did you— but in terms of like, I guess specifically at All Up, were you guys looking for opportunities to leverage these platforms in y'all's work?

Yes.

How.

So? We build like engineering, like a whole process to search leads. And we use like new AI tools to look on that and like send emails to possible new leads. And all up right now, this is the main thing that we've been doing with AI beyond my personal website. But the goal is, I was not into that process, but the goal is what at one time, all the interviews, the record interviews, they're going to use AI tools to like make this screening process working fast and better.

So the AI kind of ability there was really focused on lead gen. Yeah. Like a lead gen where you're— what is that, scraping and scanning databases or— Yeah.

LinkedIn, basically. Got it.

And so that was developing a crawler to capture kind of those opportunities as leads and then sending them some type of targeted That was the AIP sending them tailored or was it providing kind of like a tailored initial outreach?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

Okay, cool. Okay.

All right.

Well, man, do you have any questions for us?

How you guys see the next steps when this whole process has been done? You see like position to grow and to stay at the organization? How do you see guys this? Definitely.

I mean, like, it kind of depends on the— I would say that my style and our style is giving people probably too much autonomy at first, but really looking to kind of match an opportunity with someone that we want to see succeed in it. But Like, it is very much in our environment, like, kind of sink or swim. JD and I are both, like, doing a bunch of other things. And so the intent here would be that, like, we get you some intros and there's that type of stuff, but, like, there's never a shortage of things to do. And so there's definitely additional, like, kind of projects and stuff beyond this. We're talking about this one because I'm about this one in the scope of this would be truly just limited to the four. Like it would be bookended by everything that we've talked about because we don't want everything else to infiltrate this. It has to be focused on this. And so like if like something gets injected, like the speed and effectiveness at which you're able to do, whoever it is, is able to do this, is that. But, and then like the other piece of that is just like seeing what you're able to do in a limited oversight, low trust environment, like floating you out into this kind of like experimental space that we've created. Because we are a sink or swim team, for better or for worse. I have had to come to accept this, Katie. There is no other— saying it as any other way, you either sink or swim. So that is what it is for now. But yeah, there's no shortage of things that we can do, and there's no shortage of things on the near-term horizon that, like, should that happen, results in everything that you and I— everything that we've just talked about, like, times 10. So, like, we are kind of at this kind of fork in the road, so to speak, where it's like, depending on how the dice falls, we could be, you know, needing exponentially more operational and strategic, strategic operational support. Um, so that's what I would say to that. Um, I think what we need to do in terms of our next steps though is just really, I need to get a sense of kind of like, so the chief of our chief of staff has been the one really spearheading this system, getting it to where it is, as JD and I were working on across some capital structure stuff. I need— I'm due for a check or check-in with her later this week to kind of see where it's at. I wanted us to talk before that so that I could come into that with like this potential resource and figure out how to really get a scope and kind of like a 30-60-90 objective document figured out. So give us, um, it is Wednesday, it is Thursday, um, give us till top of next week to get through some of this other stuff and we'll circle back and just kind of see where we're at.

Awesome. What I can say is I really like the challenge and the The inhabitant that you guys are into looks like very exciting. So it's awesome.

You have no idea what the challenge actually is here. No one ever does. If it was just the thing we were talking about, it'd be easy.

That's nice.

That is the one thing I have always kept, I feel like, pretty true in our interviewing, JD, is that I try to make it.

Yeah, you don't paint like a rose with— or you don't paint with rose-colored glasses.

Like, it's very— it's like, it's a meat grinder.

Um, yeah.

Okay. All right, dude, great catching up. Great meeting you. We'll be in touch.

Great meeting you guys. See you later. Bye. I'll call you. Thank you.