How We Hatched: Bryan Enriquez, Founding Team Member of Hallow

Tim Winkler: 00:00:05

Welcome to The Pair Program from hatchpad, the podcast that gives you a front row seat to candid conversations with tech leaders from the startup world. I'm your host, Tim Winkler, the creator of Hatchpad. And I'm your other host, Mike Gruen. Join us each episode as we bring together two guests to dissect topics at the intersection of technology, startups, and career growth. Brian, thanks for joining us on the pair program. Um, it's another bonus episode of a mini series we call how we hatched. Uh, just a fun discussion to hear a little bit more about your. You need career journey, you know, kind of where you came from and how you arrived at this current point in your seat today as one of the co founders of halo, a halo, a B2C app focused on health and wellness. Um, so first I always like to start by we'll get into the foundation of who. Uh, Brian Enriquez is, so kick off with the question, you know, what did, what did Brian have for breakfast this morning?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:01:05

Yeah, that's a, that's a, that's a great question. So actually right now the answer is nothing. Um, I, uh, I've started recently intermittent fasting. Um, okay.

Tim Winkler: 00:01:13

Okay. And

Bryan Enriquez: 00:01:15

it's, it's going well. Uh, I've been at it for about a month and a half now. Is this your first

undefined: 00:01:20

time

Tim Winkler: 00:01:20

trying something like this?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:01:21

Yes. Uh, so I actually have some autoimmune, uh, situations I'm trying to go through and trying to improve on. And yeah, it's actually helped. Um, I, I looked up some, some articles from Johns Hopkins that talks about how intermittent fasting can help reduce inflammation in the body. One point, it's like, Oh, it's one of these bufu shishi like trends, but it's actually like an actual, you know, it's It had the science behind it. So I'm like, I'll give it a try. Um, I was not trying to lose weight. I ended up losing quite a bit. Um, and I do feel better. So it's going to be something I'm going to try to incorporate moving forward. So

Tim Winkler: 00:01:55

how long do you go for your first meal?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:01:58

So I try to do, I eat at noon and then I stop eating after 8 PM. Okay. Let's

Tim Winkler: 00:02:04

say. Do you like, as far as like a morning routine, uh, what do you, what do you kind of get into? Do you, do you have a, a, a consistent routine you try to stick to?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:02:15

Yeah. So I think for me, it depends on whether or not to go into the office, uh, every day. So at hollow, we're a remote first organization, which means, you know, I mean, the majority of our folks don't work here in Chicago. I'm here. We just moved offices. We're in a, in a new, we worked, which is very nice. Um, yeah. You're in the Fulton market, Wesley, Barry and Chicago. Um, I live like 10 minutes away, so it's really easy. My routine, if I'm walking is I try to, um, meditate and pray in the morning. Um, so I'll do like one of our hollow sessions. I'm like, I'm, I'm one of those users of, of, uh, the product that I've made. So part of my role is try to share feedback from our users. And that is also me. So I use it every day. Um, and yeah, so I pray rosary when I walk into work and when I'm staying here, I, I sort of mix it up and, you know, before I would eat something for breakfast. No, I don't. Um, yeah, so my, when I'm here, I just try to wake up and, um, top level things that I have to tackle. I have it ready. I have my, my calendar is one of those things where I have everything time blocked. So people think it looks psychotic, but for me, it brings me a sense of peace because I know what I have to do when, um, and it's all color coordinated. So yeah.

Tim Winkler: 00:03:24

Oh man, you're, you got it down to science. Time blocks are key. I, I'm always, uh, you know, as a, as a small business founder, I'm I got a block off that morning. Uh, I can't get attacked in the morning by, by a bunch of, you know, meetings and like requests and one on ones. Like that's, that's, uh, that morning is, is super important to just kind of get the day scheduled, you know, make sure you know what you're doing and, and get a good start. Um, cool. Well, you know, we, um, we always like to start by having you provide, you know, the listeners with a quick, quick overview on, on hallow and, you know, kind of. Kind of work you guys are doing problems you're solving here. Yeah, absolutely. So

Bryan Enriquez: 00:04:01

I think, um, we were talking earlier, um, before we got started about sort of what is how and where did it come from. So really our perspective, um, the goal is we want to help people pray. That's our mission. That's literally our mission statements. We want to help people pray. Um, the reason is because prayer changed our lives. Um, you know, having the space for meditation and reflecting on, you know, your purpose in life and your relationship with others and your relationship with God is, has been massive. Um, but we came from a background of not really knowing how to do that. Um, and so that's sort of the voice that we try to bring to the app is, um, we're going to walk with you. So it's all audio guided, right? So all you do is you open the app, you find a type of session that's attractive to you. You hit play. Okay. And then you can have 1 of our guides walk through it might be Francis, who is 1 of our founding members and is my roommate. Um, or it could be Mark Wahlberg. Um, so we've got an interesting mix of guys in the app, um, for different, um, yeah, backgrounds and interests. So cool.

Tim Winkler: 00:05:01

Yeah, we'll, uh, get a little bit more into that, uh, throughout the, uh, discussion, but, um. Let's flash back a little bit. I like to, I like to peel back the founder's journey, uh, before I dive deeper into the story of, of, of the technology or the app. So, uh, let's start with, uh, the roots for you, you know, where'd you grow up? Uh, what eventually led you down this path to being a tech entrepreneur?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:05:26

Yeah, absolutely. I was listening, um, to your, um, earlier, um, podcasts with, um, Brian from Lauren studios, the, the game studios and talking about just sort of like, Hey, like, where did you come from? And it's interesting, you know, he's his experience of technology and like playing, you know, computers early on that kind of resonated with me. I also loved computers and tech growing up. Um, but, yes, I was born in Puerto Rico. Um, my parents are Puerto Rican. I was born there. I left when I was 2 years old, moved around a lot when I was a kid, um, lived in Iowa and Missouri and Kansas, ended up spending most of my time in Mississippi. So, I grew up a few years in the coast in Bluxy, but I say that I'm from Meridian, which is Sort of close to the Alabama border, um, and then I went back to Puerto Rico for a year, came back, graduated high school in Mississippi, went to Notre Dame. I'm a big, uh, Irish fan. Um, and, uh, and then I ended up working for the government in D. C. So in D. C. for 4 years, um, for the Department of Justice. And I say that because I is probably the least likely person to be involved on a, on a founding team of a startup. So I just wanted to speak into that. Some of your listeners might be like, well, I don't know if that's me. I mean, you know, I studied political science. I did study economics, but. I never visualized myself as an entrepreneur. I never thought that I was, that's what I was going to be doing.

Tim Winkler: 00:06:47

Um, didn't run in the family or anything like absolutely parents. Okay.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:06:51

Absolutely not. No one, no one to my knowledge has even started a company. Um, they'll have had, you know, great experiences, but this flavor of let's start something from nothing is never something that I even interacted with. I don't think I met somebody like I didn't have any friends who had done it or like distant relatives or anything like that, it was truly out of, out of nowhere. And, um, you know, I was working for the government. I mean, when you think about, you know, a startup, it's like the opposite of a startup is the federal government. I mean, it's something that's been around for, you know, probably a hundred to 200 years, depending on what department and group and, um, the way that they run things a lot of times is set in stone and there's, you know, different levels of hierarchy and we talk about a startup. It's like. Didn't exist, no one knows what it is, you know, most people know what, you know, the Department of Commerce is, or, you know, Department of Justice, um, DEA, like, those just are things that people are aware of, and so when you're trying to create something that has no recognition, like, when we start talking about HALO, like, no one knew what HALO was, right? So. You have to truly go from 0 to 1 as Peter Thiel talks about in his book, which is really helpful. So people

Tim Winkler: 00:07:59

just kind of fall into that first gig out of school, right? I feel like you're just so lost and, you know, a lot of times you don't, you know, you're not pursuing what you studied. Uh, you just, yeah. Connected by somebody that knew someone who's trying to get a job. So, you know, sounds like you kind of fell into, you know, into the world, you know, into the world of government, you're in the area. Um,

Bryan Enriquez: 00:08:20

yeah, so I, I thought I was going to be a lawyer actually. So I did mock trial in high school and college and I thought, okay, you don't really go into law after graduating, right? You go, you know, sometimes people become a paralegal and I thought, well, I might as well just go and try to work with some lawyers. You know what I mean? And try to get an experience and so I went to the Department of Justice. I kind of got that. I got to work on projects with lawyers, which is exactly what I wanted. And then I realized that that was not my calling. Uh, law was not my calling. Um, I just got the things that made me passionate or things that drove, I should say passion, um, in the work that I did was more about problem solving and working with others. And law is sort of the framework of is just different from that. It's more about Research, um, coming together with, with briefs, um, giving counsel to other people that are making decisions as like, that's, that's, that's cool for the people who do it. That's not necessarily what I want to do. Um, so, yeah.

Tim Winkler: 00:09:20

So then, uh, let's fast forward and tell me how you, you know, how you got regrouped with some of your, your, your. I guess co founders, right? Some, some of your, uh, your friends from school and, uh, how did this idea come to mind?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:09:34

Yeah. So, I mean, again, not us not really knowing, I mean, I certainly didn't have that background. I think so, Alex, um, he's our CEO, Alex Jones, not the one from InfoWars. Um, he was my roommate in college. And we were randomly assigned, um, uh, at Notre Dame. It's that first year. You just get randomly assigned with a roommate. There's no look for me to fill out. You just, you know, and he was the person that I met with. And then a few people on our floor, um, that ended up also being on the founding team within my dorm. Um, so the short answer is we all met in college with the exception of Eric, who had met Alex briefly. Um, so we were all sort of friends from college. And then we started talking and catching up on the weekends, sort of. Um, over the years after we had graduated. So, uh, we graduated in 2015 from Notre Dame and then the idea sort of came around in 2017. Uh, and then we actually started to, you know, put things together, uh, and, and really talk about in 2018. Um, so the, the pre, there was a precursor version of this, uh, of the idea and then there was the actual idea. So, um, the first version was like, oh man, like we can maybe do a blog on like our journey. And so we started, uh, Alex also under, and I started a blog. That I don't think anyone read, I mean, we got like a WordPress site and we're like, let's just try to share our experiences and journey with other people that did not work. I mean, we had no idea what we were doing. And so then in January of 2018, um, Alex was like, yeah, I mean, why don't we start an app because I. Was was really impacted in my life was changed through prayer and specifically meditative prayer, which is not it's not that it's not mainstream. It's just maybe not talked about as much right. Um, and so then he's and I was like, yes, that sounds like an amazing idea. Let's do it again. Not really knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Um, and so then we started to develop the app idea in 2018 and then launched it in December of 2018. Um, so this December will officially be 5 years old. But the founding team itself, there's 7 of us. Um, and we sort of came together through, you know, being friends and like having the right skill sets. So I'm the sort of the really extroverted person. Um, so my role is head of customer operations. So trying to be the person who spends most time talking with our users and bringing that insight to the different teams at hallow building community, uh, running our customer support team, running our events. Um, so yeah. So, and then in terms of the, the, the makeup three, the first three people to quit their jobs are the co founders. And then the next four, uh, are the founding team members. So I'm the fourth person. So I'm actually a founding team member. Alex was the first and then Eric and then Alessandro and then me. Um, so it was a really interesting journey for us. So

Tim Winkler: 00:12:17

where you were still kind of consulting, you know, while, you know, the app was really kind of being built in the background.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:12:24

Yeah. So we were all, I mean, we started talking about it in January of 2018 of like, Hey, like let's build this thing. And then Alex ended up quitting to go to business school in the summer. So probably like June ish. Um, and then Eric and Alessandra quit that fall, so they quit in, like, October, November, because we did a tech starter. That's how we got started through that period. I was sort of working during the day and then working after work, you know what I mean? So we have a weekly call, um, to just chat, be like, okay, what's the next project? How are we getting feedback? What are we doing? What's this idea? We had, um, our first meeting in May, so flew to San Francisco. Um, and we just kind of like hash things out. There was a room of sticky notes. And so it's cool because it's like one of those things you see on TV. Like, Oh, we're starting a startup. Like let's get sticky notes in a room and let's, you know, it actually ended up being really helpful. Um, a lot of our ideas came from that initial meeting. Um, so

Tim Winkler: 00:13:20

yeah, it's like a scene out of like Silicon Valley, you know, the show, it's just like, uh, exactly. It was funny college guys getting together. Well, you know, because it's always interesting to see, um, you know, I kind of think back to like my journey to as we're, you know, services companies, it's a little bit different because you can kind of start as an independent consultant, kind of get a client base going before you fully, you know, take that leap and start hiring folks. Whereas like when you're building an app, it's a little bit different, right? You need funding and you need some, some, some money to kind of. Help get you through and give you, you know, that, that stability to feel comfortable to quit your job and really focus full, full hearted on, on the. The company, um, and it sounds like kickstarter was your all's, you know, kind of gave you, how much did you guys raise? Like from a, from a kickstarter,

Bryan Enriquez: 00:14:10

um, I think we were like a 27, 000 from the kickstarter.

Tim Winkler: 00:14:14

And obviously everybody had kind of saved a little bit of money up and, you know, that's what I was going to say that

Bryan Enriquez: 00:14:18

the kickstarter was in November, but before then. Um, we each had to look and say, all right, like, how are we going to fund this? And so the answer was our, uh, 401k, so I had to, and, you know, and I mean, we were only a few years out of college, so it's not like we had a lot of, I mean, I certainly didn't have a lot of, I don't know. Alessandro and a few of those were in different industries. Um, so the pay different was there was a pay difference, but I think none of us were, you know, sitting on a lot of money. So we had to rely on that for, you know, the first few, uh, iterations of building it and getting people to help us. So we got some contractors early on that ended up becoming employees later, um, worked out really, really well. The Kickstarter was there. Um, we, and then we did a seed round, which is amazing, uh, about a year and a half later. Um, and that really was able to kind of push us, um, to the, the next rounds that we we've closed.

Tim Winkler: 00:15:12

So cool. And, um, you know, tell me a little bit about, you know, what your inspiration was. I think we, we kind of talked about a little bit offline, but. You know, you guys were scratching your, your own itch here. Um, but, um, I think you had mentioned that, you know, one of the other founders had been using Headspace or something, right. And it was kind of a, a game changing experience. I think, uh, when you, when you think about that type of technology, that app, um, was that one of the big influencers with, with how you wanted to build?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:15:40

Yeah, so, I mean, I think, um, there was 2 things going on at the time. So Alex, it was his idea. Um, he was the one who had used headspace and was found it helpful because it, it sort of helps you, um, find silence, um, and which a lot of times people don't have silence in their days, you know, because it's, it's this constant news feed. It's the notifications, it's the emails, it's the, whatever the tick tocks or the Instagram reels. So. Yeah. That was helpful for him to create a mind space, if you will, to think about what he truly believed in. And I think for him, before that had happened with the meditation, it sort of, he was, he was searching, trying to understand what he really believed and was one of the catalysts that helped him realize that he wanted to pray. And I think that's, that is one of the differences between the apps is when you talk about headspace, you're really thinking about. Mindfulness meditation and the silence, whereas how it was really like, how do you have a conversation with God? How do you pray? Um, and so he was like, well, we don't, there's not really an app for that. I mean, obviously there's some apps that give you like Bible verses and there's some Christian apps out there that are, uh, non denominational Christian apps. There was nothing that was like a Catholic focused app. And there were so many traditions and things that are in the church for hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands of years, sometimes that just weren't At least we thought like, I never had a priest go up, get up and say, you should do, let's do Divina. Like, I had no idea what that was. Um, it turns out it's a way to meditate and reflect on scripture, which is really powerful. Um, and so that, yeah, that was sort of the inspiration was like, okay, there's this format that worked well for me, but it's missing something and I need that something. Why don't we build that something? And so that was 1 of the things that was happening. The 2nd thing at the same time. So at work. I, again, I was at the Department of Justice 1 of the things that I was tasked with was looking at the mental health wellness needs of operators in the branch of the Department of Justice. And so these operators, um, you know, sometimes they defuse bombs, they rescue hostages. Um, they have to negotiate, you know, with people who, who. Um, are difficult to negotiate with, um, and so they have stressful jobs, um, and we were trying to figure out, you know, what's the state of, of, of them. And we found that, uh, of all the things that we recommended, um, a few things were interesting 1 mental health and resiliency. So when you phrase something as mental health, it's like, uh, like, that's, there's a stigma attached to it. Sure. When you talk about mental resiliency, it's actually people want to grow in it because they think it's like, oh, it's a muscle, like I'm going to become stronger. So that really resonated with people. And then the other thing was doing mindfulness meditation and just kind of finding silence. And so there was actual benefits in terms of the heart rate and things you could measure. And so I, from that experience, when he was talking about this, I was like, yeah, man, like, I've seen this work. And the, um, sort of secular context, and so there's no reason why it can't work in the religious context as well. If we combine some of these techniques with, um, you know, the experiences of, uh, and the teachings of the Catholic faith. So that's kind of where the inspiration came from, uh, initially to kind of develop the 1st version of it.

Tim Winkler: 00:18:49

Yeah, it's really a fascinating space because I think you Instrumental time, I would say that mindfulness is becoming, you know, like around when headspace, I started tapping into headspace, maybe say 2017, um, 2018, something around that time and, and, uh, meditation and mindfulness was, was really popping off, I'd say. Um, so you guys kind of. Got into it, I think, and wrote a, an early rising wave where it was kind of cool, you know, like people, you know, especially younger folks were like really getting into that. Um, And, you know, to bring it back to, um, you know, Catholicism at large, something that, you know, I was, you know, talking to you about offline was, you know, you know, raised Catholic and, you know, as a younger individual, you know, going to a Catholic church, you know, they had like CCD, right? They had like, You know, you could go and watch the videos, um, while, you know, while maybe, you know, the, your, your parents were, uh, you know, actually in the sermon. Um, but the, the reality was, it was just, you know, it can oftentimes be really challenging for younger folks to, to find, uh, the Catholic religion engaging, um, you know, and, and so when I was doing my research on the app and, you know, downloading and, and, you know, engaging with it, I was like, This is really catering to this, like, you know, younger generation of Catholics. Um, and I think there's a movement with that too, and kind of like marrying the, you know, the mindfulness and, uh, religion and blending that together. It's a really fascinating concept. I'll obviously say like, you know, B2C apps at large are extremely difficult to get traction for. Um, did you all, you know, did you, was, was there, um, those conversations happening around, like, just, you know, talking to investors or just doing your own research of like, what's it going to take, uh, to be successful here? Um, and did you get, you know, discouraged at all? And I'm always interested in those early stages of you here, you know, this is the type of traction you're going to need. Uh, here's the fail rate. Yeah. How did, how did those conversations flow?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:21:02

Certainly. Um, difficult, you know, so I think, I mean, there's the stat that gets thrown around. That's like, you know, 90 percent of startups fail within two years. Um, and in particular, you know, B2C apps are tough. You gotta really have a strong sense of marketing and how you're going to distribute it. And you gotta really watch your, your, uh, your CACs, you know, your cost to acquire. Versus the LTV and like, that's got to make sense. Um, so yeah, so initially, um, Alex sort of, uh, was the one who took on these conversations and he had came back and shared with us, like how it went. Basically, I think it was something like the first 50 or 60. Like initial seed conversations where, where people saying like, you know, this is a stupid idea. This is not going to go anywhere. And I mean, that's, that's a lot of conversation. I mean, it's, it was dozens and dozens and dozens of just, no, no, no, no, no. It's a lot of

Tim Winkler: 00:21:50

rejection. And you

Bryan Enriquez: 00:21:52

know, I mean, Alex was like, look, God, like, I believe that this is what you wanted me to do. Right. Like I need, like, I'm going to trust you and please like, show me the way. And I kid you not like immediately after that, like the next day or two, he got an, uh, an email, um, uh, and a term sheet, um, from Suse Ventures. Um, they've been fantastic. Uh, and then once we got one term sheet, we were able to get more and then we closed our seed, we closed our series a, I mean, it, it was really, um, amazing. Uh, and I, so I think part of it was like, Um, but also it's sort of the, what I was talking about earlier, the, I think the authenticity just really comes through, especially in a Kickstarter video. Cause it's just, it was Eric and Alex, um, the two of them were just like, Hey, like we're starting this thing. And you know, again, we're not like Eric and Alex, uh, and myself, we were not really people who would consider ourselves super religious or like, I mean, yeah, we would go to church, but like, it wasn't something that. We were very engaged in and what we realized is that people could see themselves in that like, Hey, I wasn't very engaged and then check it out. I did this app and I, and I learned how to pray. I think for us, you know, having that base routine of that habit, that ritual of, Hey, I'm going to, I'm praying and I'm meditating every day enabled us to then understand and take much more out of the actual services. So, as before, I was like, I don't understand why is there a red candle? Why does he look like, why is he dressed like a wizard? Why does why do you have these robes? I don't get it. And then when you start to actually be like, oh, I now understand where this all comes from. Um, it's from the Judeo Christian roots. So it goes back to thousands of years to like the time of Moses, um, of like these robes and what it means to be a priest. And so anyway, so I, I guess my point is some people are like, Oh, are you trying to be like a replacement for, or a substitute for religion? Like in, in terms of like, uh, going to church. And I think for us, absolutely not. We want people to pray. And certainly if you're not a Catholic, but that's okay. If you're not a Christian, that's okay. Like

Tim Winkler: 00:23:52

that was one of my questions. It is a kind of catering to. Like Christians and like, uh, just

Bryan Enriquez: 00:23:59

a hundred percent. So I think we really struggle with that. It's like, how do we, how do we be authentic? That was one of our big things. We want to be authentic. And we said, look, we are all Catholic, so we can't pretend to be something we're not and the experiences that we had are rooted in the Catholic faith. So we have to stick, stay true to that. We want to be inclusive and we want to welcome other people of, of different Christian denominations and even people who aren't Christian as well. Now that's trickier because obviously like the content is focused on Christ. So. If you're not, uh, if you don't follow Christ, then it, you know, it's, it's a little different, but I've had people, you know, explain and tell me that they, they, they're not Christians and they still find it useful. So, um, that's exciting to me. Um, just the way that we've structured the content, I think resonates with a lot of people. It's less on like preaching and it's more on let's have an experience together and we have some soothing voices, amazing people to pray with. And then just like that experience of like, oh wow, I'm, I'm experiencing something and I literally feel better. And so I think that kind of like, is not as scary for a lot of people. Cause it's not like, you know, pray, whatever four decades of the rosary go. It's like, I don't, I don't know how to, you know, it's worse. Like just press play and listen and just like, let it kind of wash over you. I think that really resonates with a lot of people.

Tim Winkler: 00:25:11

Yeah, I think that's a really interesting point because, you know, one of the things that I think is always a bit of a turnoff for somebody that, you know, I kind of look at myself as a little bit of a religious mutt, you know, I grew up Catholic, you know, transitioned into a non denominational Christian, may or may not have been a cult. I'm not sure it was one of those like really intense non denominational Christian churches, kind of got turned off, lived in, uh, Bali, Indonesia, uh, kind of got entrenched in a, in a Hindu environment for two years. Came back home, um, you know, started to really try to explore what, what, what else is out there, um, without losing sight of what I'd experienced in the past. And one of the things that always kind of turned me off, I think, would be when people were really preaching and they're like, it's almost like it's, it's a selling, you're really trying to sell me like a car salesman here on, on, on why, why you. Um, I like when you say it's like, you know, we're not here to preach to you, you know, and make sure like, you know, you know, that this is the way it's more of like, let's have this experience together and like reinforce, you know, whatever it is that you're, you're pursuing, like, we want to kind of like help you with that versus, you know, this is the way it is, you know, I think that's,

Bryan Enriquez: 00:26:25

yeah. And I think again, you know, we have a really wide variety of content. I think Mark Wahlberg's content is great because his, his content is just like. Let's, let's get after it. Like the mentality is like, let's conquer the day. Like, let's seize the day. Like that person really resonates with a lot of people. We have content that is like more on the meditation side, which is like experiencing something in silence or like reflecting on something. Um, but then if there's people, so if you're listening to this and you're like, I'm not religious, like, I don't understand why these people talking about religion. It's like, look, I think the core of what we're talking about is. We wrestled with what is, what is the meaning of life and like, where's my purpose? And I've noted and I've had, I have friends who aren't religious. I think the core of it and the message that I think everybody can take away from is what I, my experiences. You have to search, you have to wrestle with it. I think some people kind of like, they focus on other things. They think about the career, about whatever it is, their family. And they never stop to think about like, what is it that I truly believe? Like what happens after I die? Uh, you know, which we're all going to die. So it's, something's going to happen and just kind of wrestling with it and being like, what is it that I truly believe? How do I want to live my life? Like, I think that, so I, there's a CEO of all state who gave a talk recently. And, um, and he leads a company of whatever, I mean, they probably have like 50, 000 people, if not more. And one of the most successful things that he talked about, um, that Tom was mentioning in his talk was it's like half day retreat, full day retreat that they do. I think it's, it's a day and a half and it's for the entire company. And it's, um, about understanding what motivates you in life. And it's like, it's not like a faith thing, but it's a values thing. It's like, where do you get your energy? What, what makes you passionate? Where do you feel like you're most alive? Where do you feel like you're most dead? Like wrestling with that. And he said, has been the single biggest thing that's driven retention and just, um, employee satisfaction. And they look forward to it every year. And again, it's like, there's people of all faith backgrounds, but that wrestling with like, what is it that I believe? Like what, what gets me out of bed every day? Like, how can I find my passion and my meaning is super important. And I feel like if anything you walk away with is, I would just encourage you to spend a few more minutes thinking about that. You haven't been.

Tim Winkler: 00:28:42

Yeah. And, uh, you know, a lot of folks, you know, maybe that doesn't hit them until a certain stage in life. Right. So I just had, uh, our first, uh, child, my wife and I, we had a daughter. Yeah. Thanks. She just turned seven months today actually. And, um, You know, one of the things that kind of sparked us to, to re engage in our faith, right, was we, we want to raise, uh, our daughter in a, you know, some sort of a religious household, right? You know, I think there's order to it and it's, uh, a family bonding experience, uh, surround yourself with a community. And for us, you know, so it started with light, like praying at, at night before dinner, you know, and, um, you know, taking those small things, but then, you know, pushing yourself further, like kind of like what you're alluding to is really challenge yourself to think, you know, uh, about some deep, deep shit. There's going to be things that are really going to. Uh, come up and, you know, when, when you have another person that, that you're responsible for, um, it kind of forces you to, you know, think forward, uh, versus maybe, maybe you just get comfortable if it's just you and just, yeah, whatever. So, I think, um, you know, it's certainly, it sounds like it's, it's catering to, you know, younger, uh, is it, is it catering to younger generations? Would you say most, a lot of your users are. Younger, or what does the user base

Bryan Enriquez: 00:30:01

look like? It's super interesting. So we don't as our onboarding, we don't ask for age. So the short answer is we don't know. With 95 percent degree of accuracy, the user base distribution, we've done surveys and we've talked to our users. And what's fascinating is the user distribution, I would have thought is like a 18 to 35 and then like much lower. Because it's a, it's a tech app, but it's not, um, it's actually relatively distributed. There is, uh, I would say a bump of like, you know, 18 to 35 in terms of users, but it's pretty smooth in terms of the distribution, uh, across ages with some of our most engaged users being over 65, which I would never have guessed. Um, I think the intuition there is everybody gets something out of it. It's a little bit different. So I think folks that are in that over 65, you know, they have more time. They are sort of in the end of life chapter. So they're like, okay, he's like next 30 years, my, or, or whatever might be my last. So I have to think through like what happens next. And so it kind of prompts them. Um, I think the middle group is kind of what you're talking about. We've noticed that marriage having children triggers like a desire of like, what do I really believe? Because I now have to, I have to pass something on. I either ask like, God's not real or like God's real. And it's this one or that one. Like you have to, you have to say something. Um, yeah. Or you can let them figure it out on their own. But like, how do you, how do you walk with them in that journey of life? I think it's something that everyone can kind of wrestle with or needs to wrestle with in that, in that stage. And so I just wanted to add something to the earlier comment. Um, I remember I, I, so I went to Yale for, um, for my, my MBA. Um, so graduate 2021, um, and I'm happy to talk about that experience. I know some of your listeners might be wondering like, okay, well, I want to go to business school. I'm not really sure. Do I get a master's degree? Do I get a business degree? So definitely I wrestled with that, but there was this one class and it was kind of like, uh, an orientation class. I thought that was fascinating. And one of the talks. Resonated with me because the guys similar background to you, his dad was a pastor, actually. So he said, Hey, you know, my dad was a pastor. I didn't know what I believed and I was kind of wrestling with it. One thing he told me that I'll never forget. He said that because his dad was a pastor, he was invited to a lot of people's final moments, right? It's like, Hey, this person's about to pass. And like, let's have the pastor just come by and like be with you so that you're not alone, pray over you as you, as you pass away. And he said, you know, the one thing that he said is the most common thing on someone's deathbed. It's talking about the things that they didn't do and they, and the regret of like, I didn't do this thing. I wanted to start that business. I didn't do it. I want to write that book. I didn't do it. I wanted to, you know, make that trip and I didn't do it. And so he's like, that really motivated me because I'm like 1 and Jeff Bezos talks about this, like how he makes decisions. He likes to think of it, of it like 40 years from now, looking back kind of like the premortem, like, what would I have regretted if I did or didn't do this thing? And he's like, that motivated me to start a company. He started a company and it failed. And he was like, I was in my pajamas and my mom's, uh, my, my, my parents dinner table. And uh, we failed, but you know, but I don't have to regret I'm not trying. Yeah. So if you're listening and you're like, I don't know. It's like. Yeah. Wrestle with it. I certainly don't think everybody's called to be an entrepreneur. I think it's something that's probably one of the hardest things you can do. Um, very risky. But yeah, I mean, if you're, if you're wrestling with it, just consider that, um, you know, think about yourself in the future and what motivates you again, what makes you, what, what drives passion in your life? Is it creating something? Is it trying something new and you just haven't had the experience? Certainly that was my case, right? Like I hadn't had the opportunity to build something. I was in the government and there's not in my life. Part of the government, my, my department, there wasn't really a space for that to build something from scratch. Um, certainly if you're, I don't know, if you're in the Pentagon and like, you're in some research division, you can probably build something from scratch with a lot of money, but I was working with lawyers. It's like, uh, you know, that, that experience of like building an app or building something was just not possible. So it's almost like I never had the opportunity to know if I wanted or not. And I just had, we just took a leap of faith and thankfully it's, it's worked out. Um, we just closed our series C, uh, but a few months ago. So. Yeah.

Tim Winkler: 00:34:26

Yeah. Yeah, man. That's really cool. Uh, really cool feedback. I, I, I, I think about that as well. And, you know, I read a lot of books around, you know, that exact moment of the folks that their biggest regret, um, is, you know, wish I hadn't just. Kept putting in those extra hours at work, you know, when I could have spent more time with my family, uh, or something like that, right. That's usually the most, a really common one as well, which entrepreneurs, you're going to put in some work, you know, and it's not going to be, uh, that, that smooth sailing, but the, the reality is that you could have a, a bigger payout. Uh, retirement could come a little earlier if you're putting in the, the, the sweat and the tears in those earlier stages, but the regret piece, I think is, is a, is a fascinating point. Um, I'm gonna, uh, wrap up a couple more questions here for we, we transitioned to the five second scramble, but, you know, just a couple of quick hitters on, on how low, you know, I guess how many downloads, you know, rough estimate you guys, uh, have

Bryan Enriquez: 00:35:28

at this point. Yeah. So the last time I checked, we, we cracked 11 million globally. Wow. So that's wild. It's very, you guys are,

Tim Winkler: 00:35:39

you know, in hundreds of countries I'd imagine folks are, are.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:35:43

Yeah, so the way it works is any country you can download an app, um, you can use it. So, I mean, there's, I think we have users in like, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and like all these other nations, even though we don't have it in Arabic, for example. Um, so we're, we're global in that sense, but in terms of languages, we have English, we have Spanish, we have Brazilian Portuguese, um, we have Filipino Tagalog, uh, we have Polish, we in Latin. And then we're launching in French, German, and Italian, uh, in the next, uh, few months. So,

Tim Winkler: 00:36:14

wow. And you've got some, some pretty, you know, big, big partnerships and collaborations. You, you, you mentioned Mark Wahlberg is one. Um, you know, how do you go about that? How do you snag, uh, Mark Wahlberg to, to, to use the app and then, you know, engage him to, to lead some of these sessions?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:36:34

Yeah. So it's, it's interesting. We've had folks like, um. Joe Montana, he was 1 of our 1st, um, investors as an angel investor legend. Um, who's who's great. Yeah. Um, and yeah, I mean, it, it sort of depends. So we have, um, the actor who plays Jesus in the chosen. It's a popular streaming series. Uh, his name is Jonathan roomie. It's becoming bigger and bigger. Obviously, we have Mark Wahlberg and we've had a few other people that. Mario Lopez, um, and some, some other folks that have been gracious enough to give their time, um, and energy to help our project. And really, it's sort of like an all of the above, like, some of them have been, we've reached out through an agent and then the agent connects us. Some of it has been like, we, we know somebody who goes to their church and we're like, Hey. Do you want to work for HAL or do you want to work with HAL and they're like, yeah, HAL is cool. And so it's cool because it's, it's, it, again, it appeals to a wide range of people. Cause we have clergy in the app. So we have like cardinals and archbishops. And we also have, again, like Mark Wahlberg or Jonathan, people who don't have any formal, you know, role in the church. And again, it's just, we're trying to create something and it's like, well, how do you be inclusive and not watered on the message? Well, we've landed on is like, we want to be authentic. So this is who we are. So we're not going to shy away from it, but we want to be as welcoming as possible. And just, I think the format of the app is what enables that. So that's why I think people want to work with us is they're like, Oh, okay, this is a little different. Like the way that this happens, the way that you experience a session in hallow, uh, is resonating with a much larger audience. And again, some people think like, Oh, it's the younger audience. But again, we've had some of our people or power users that are over 65. I had a, I had a call. There was a, there was a, uh, I guess a girl who was, who just turned 18. And then there was a woman who was 81 on the same call. And they both were like, I love how, and I'm like, it just kind of struck me. I was like, that is crazy. That is wild, wide range or both, both find something valuable and it is, is kind of

Tim Winkler: 00:38:32

unique. So that's crazy. That's, that's so cool to see that diverse user base. Um, and you just mentioned, yeah, you guys just snagged a series C recently, um, total funding. Where are you sitting at right now?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:38:45

Uh, we're at one Oh five. Um, so we've closed 105 million funding, um, through our seed, a, B and C, which is

Tim Winkler: 00:38:51

awesome. Some big names too, like Peter Thiel's in there, uh, investor. Yeah. We just

Bryan Enriquez: 00:38:56

closed with a good water capital. Um, Eric, yeah, this is fantastic. Um, so yeah, and general catalyst has been really good with us and a few others. So. And from a

Tim Winkler: 00:39:06

headcount perspective, you know, what's, you know, you're, you're, you guys are scaling up. What's the size of this operation? How many employees are part of this thing?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:39:15

Yeah. So I think right now we're hovering between 60 and 65, but we're also hiring. And so it's kind of like influx. Um, with a series C that was one of our goals is to do a hiring push. So, you know, right now between contractors and employees, um, we're probably just shy of a hundred, um, with, you know, by the end of the year, we'll probably have, we'll be over a hundred for sure. Um, with all the hiring that we're doing, what, what areas are

Tim Winkler: 00:39:40

you hiring in? Oh, I mean, We got across the board, all

Bryan Enriquez: 00:39:44

of us, all of the stuff. Yeah. But now we've been at this for a few months. So some of the roles have been closing. So, um, we've been hiring everything from growth marketing, um, for Latin America. We've got, um, our content writing position was some of the most applied to position. So that's like writing the actual content that gets, um, into the app. Um, we're hiring for people to help our B2B sort of our partnerships team to help scale that operation. Um, we're building a team to help, um, parishes. So it's sort of like offering hallow as a, like a course or an experience that masters can bring to their, like to the parish nurse. Like, Hey, you know, do hallow as, as a parish community, for example. So it's like, yeah, I'm hiring for some customer support people on the customer support team. Um, so yeah, it's just been kind of like all over the board as we, as we grow.

Tim Winkler: 00:40:33

Are you, are you hiring up any, uh, like in areas of tech, uh, engineering,

Bryan Enriquez: 00:40:38

uh, product? Yes. Yes, we have. Um, so we're, we're going to a new model, um, of what we call them pods. So it's going to be a pod focused on community, a pod focused on retention, and then a pod focused on sort of growth. Um, and so we're hiring, yeah, you know, new engineers for those roles, Android and iOS. Um, we're also hiring designers, um, as well. So, uh, one of the things that makes hallow. Uh, I think so successful is the visual appeal of it. Like when you open the app, it's just the visually beautifully designed app. Um, the illustrations really are, I think, awesome and they help sort of like lower the barrier. It's like, Oh, like it's, it's, it's welcoming. It's like, Oh yeah, like I want to spend time meditating with this, uh, with this app. So. Wow.

Tim Winkler: 00:41:26

Yeah. It's really fascinating app. Um, definitely recommend any, uh, any of our listeners out there to, to, to give it a download, tinker with it. Uh, I'm sure it loves your feedback on it. Um, and, uh, yeah, keep up the good work. I love, um, I love people innovating in a space that for one, like, you know, it's important to me. Um, you know, I was really thrilled, uh, to, to see something like this popping up. Have you seen anything else out there like it? Have you seen anybody kind of. You know, mimicking what you're doing right now or, uh, anything else that's, that's similar.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:42:01

Yeah. It's weird because, um, on the one hand, like, so our mission is to help people pray. And we've talked about this as like, it's not really competitive. Like if somebody else makes another app that helps people pray, that's like, I mean, more power to you. Um, so I know that there's a few apps that are, that have come out. So Ascension is one of our partners. They've been great with us. Um, so father Mike Schmitz, um, he's like, Why are they considered to be one of the most, um, followed priests in the U S. And he actually had a podcast called, um, Bible in a year. And when that launched, um, I believe it was in 2021, it was the number one podcast across all podcasts for like, I think two weeks in Apple. So like for, I guess across all their podcasts, it was like this priest reading the Bible was like the most listened to thing, which is crazy. So probably makes me great. He's in our app as well. So you can listen to Bible in your app. They launched their own version, which is more of like a Bible, like video type thing where you can like, you know, Um, if there's specific questions about the faith, like, that's that's an app that you can kind of go to. So, um, that's been a new thing that's come out recently. I know. Uh, there's another app called the amen app. Um, so they're tied to the Augusta Institute, which is like a larger institution in the way that they run things. They have offer courses, um, for people who are interested in getting degrees. Um, so, yeah, it's, it's kind of interesting. It's like, look, I mean, if you're going to use an app that helps you pray, like, I don't, I don't care who you use, we won't obviously want hollow to be the best. But if something else, some other group offer something that we don't have, then. I forgot to

Tim Winkler: 00:43:28

ask, um, I guess how is the, uh, is it monetized? Do you all offer like a plus, uh, membership, like less ads or anything like that, like how, how are you all monetizing?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:43:40

Yeah. So we, we don't sell any user data, so there's no, and there's no advertisement in the apps. There's no ads. Um, the way that we make money is through an optional subscription. Um, so it's 79 99, uh, a year for the annual plan or 99 99 or the month to month plan. Um, there's also a totally free version, so you can download it. And if you're like, I, I don't want to pay for anything. There's the free version that has content that's free forever. So some apps offer like just limited free trial, but hollow has an, you know, content that's free forever. So you won't ever be kicked out of it. We also offer a free trial and a paid trial of the premium stuff. So if you want to try it out for a bit, there's options. You can sort of design your trial. You can toggle it to be free or paid. Um, so yeah, we have options for everyone. Sweet.

Tim Winkler: 00:44:26

Yeah. Love the flexibility on that. Um, well, cool, man. I, I've got a boatload of other questions, but, uh, you know, in the essence of, uh, keeping, uh, keeping your time, uh, uh, top of mind, I'm going to. Uh, stop there and I'll transition us into this final segment called the five second scramble. Um, so this will be a little bit more of a, it's a little fun, you know, rapid fire Q and a some, some personal, some business, uh, you're ready for it. Go for it. So explain how low to me as if I were a five year old

Bryan Enriquez: 00:44:59

hollow is a fun way to talk to the big man upstairs.

Tim Winkler: 00:45:05

Sold man, sold. What problems are you solving? I don't know where to start.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:45:13

I don't know how to pray. Um, I don't know if I'm doing it right. Uh, I'm by myself and I want to pray with somebody else. Perfect.

Tim Winkler: 00:45:22

What aspect of your culture do you most fear losing with

Bryan Enriquez: 00:45:26

growth? I hate when people say family. But, um, we have a, a culture where like I was just with a team. We were bowling last night and it's easy to forget that they're coworkers. It's like, oh, these are, these are my friends. Um, and as you grow, that's something that we want to keep what you bowl, like 72, like, I'm like, yeah, like I was trying to get 200 and I just kept throwing it

Tim Winkler: 00:45:52

into the gutter. Yeah, usually you have like somebody that's just like, yeah, clearly killing it, maybe bringing their own shoes. And then the folks that are just like, I just want to get this thing down the lane. Um, what trait do you value most in your co founders

Bryan Enriquez: 00:46:12

data driven decision making?

Tim Winkler: 00:46:15

Nice. What type of technologist thrive

Bryan Enriquez: 00:46:21

at HALO? I'd say people who are hungry to solve difficult problems.

Tim Winkler: 00:46:29

What can folks be most excited about with HALO closing out 2023 and going into 2024?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:46:38

HALO is going to be, can be described as a single player game. We're moving it to a multiplayer game. So the biggest thing is how you can interact with and walk with, in a prayerful way, uh, other users from around the world. So really excited about how we're going to be able to do that. What is

Tim Winkler: 00:46:56

a charity or corporate philanthropy that's near and dear to you?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:47:01

Uh, I'd say Cafe Charities. Um, they are really active here in Chicago. Um, they do a lot with the homeless. Um, which, yeah, is a cause that I really care about. Aside from

Tim Winkler: 00:47:14

Hello!, what's the favorite app on your phone? I

Bryan Enriquez: 00:47:19

would, I would have said tick tock, um, but I had to delete it because I was just on it too much, too much. It's just,

Tim Winkler: 00:47:26

yeah, it's just one of those things. Delete tick tock and add threads. Right. Is that how it works? Something like that.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:47:33

Um, yeah, I have now been using, uh, Instagram reels and, and, and YouTube shorts, but yeah, I believe it or not YouTube music. Okay. So it's a controversial topic. People make fun of me for it. Um, I love YouTube music. Uh, I'm probably one of their, it was like, well, you're probably one of their only premium subscribers. I think they have more than just a few. Um, but that's my favorite app. My go to music app is YouTube. So

Tim Winkler: 00:47:54

like with the music videos too, is that,

Bryan Enriquez: 00:47:56

so for me, it's just, I grew up like creating you, like when YouTube started, uh, I put my songs and music in like YouTube playlists. Yeah. And so then it was easy for me to just port those into YouTube music. So I still have my original playlists from like whenever I go, whereas Spotify or like whatever, Pandora, you have to create your new ones. And I said, I don't want to create my new ones.

Tim Winkler: 00:48:17

So that's why, yeah, I gotcha. What's the worst fashion trend that you've ever followed?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:48:26

Oh man. I, I don't know if you remember the brand affliction. Yeah. It's like a Criss Angel style clothing. I would, I was obsessed with it for a few years and like, looking back, I'm like, why did I wear that? That's just totally not my personality for me. I don't know if it was a trend, but I noticed, you know, I, I certainly wasn't the only one wearing it and, um, maybe some people could pull it off. I, I, I for sure couldn't pull it off and no one, no one was, had the mercy to tell me they were just like, no, let's just let him, you know, seep in until he realizes his mistake,

Tim Winkler: 00:49:00

good stuff. Um, what do you love most about yourself?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:49:04

Hmm. Um, I would say that this is, I've been told this. So I feel like I can say this zest for life, contagious zest for life. Like I like to share my excitement and passion with other people and it gets them motivated. And I think that's what I like about myself the most.

Tim Winkler: 00:49:24

I love that zest for life. It's a good, it's a good slogan. Good life slogan. Um, all right. A couple more here. So, um, if you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Bryan Enriquez: 00:49:34

Oh, man, I would, this is one of the iceberg questions that we ask and I go back and forth on just like generically flying is just like, it's just so cool. You know, just people that fly from different places. But people are like, well, you can already fly. You can just get on a plane. I'm like, yeah, but like, you can't like fly and whatever. And so I've, I've, I've landed on flying because I picked up skiing. So it'd be of a mountain and then like fly back and then do it again, you know, for sure. So I think that would be kind of sick. Yeah, yeah,

Tim Winkler: 00:50:07

yeah. Yeah. The folks that just said, just get on a plane. It's like, all right, you're, you're not playing by the rules here. We're talking about soups and hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Um, If you have one day left to live, would you spend it with Morgan Freeman or Denzel Washington? Denzel Washington, 100%.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:50:25

Yeah, Denzel, if you're listening, we would love to have you in the Halo app and Morgan too, but I mean, Morgan has a great voice.

Tim Winkler: 00:50:31

I mean, Morgan's voice, they're both great boys, but Morgan's voice is like, talk about mellowing me out. That's true.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:50:37

That's true. Um, yeah, I just feel like, like Morgan is one of those guys that like, You see, you're like, I respect you. You know, like I see what you're doing. Then I feel like it could be like, like an uncle to me. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, yeah, friends

Tim Winkler: 00:50:49

kind of just grab you under his arm and going out hard with them. All right. Last one. Favorite Disney character.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:51:02

This is going to sound bad. Um, for the longest time was Aladdin. Because he was brown and I was like, Oh, he's brown. Like me.

Tim Winkler: 00:51:11

Well, that is my favorite. Oh, there you go. Yeah. It wasn't the Brown. It wasn't the Brown. It was just, I think the magic carpet, man. You went back to the flying thing.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:51:19

Yeah. Yeah. No, the whole thing. I mean, you know, Jasmine's beautiful and like, you know, The whole, anyway, yeah, Magic Carpet was a good joke, so,

Tim Winkler: 00:51:26

yeah. Well, uh, well played. Um, awesome, man. Well, thanks so much for spending time with us, Brian. Uh, excited for the future, what you guys are building at Halo. And, um, I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure, you know, with that team of, of an all star kind of cast, you're, you're going to be super successful. So we're rooting for you guys. And thanks for hanging out with us on the pod.

Bryan Enriquez: 00:51:43

Yeah, this was super fun. Thanks for having me.