In this episode of Be Epic, Matt sits down with Steve Nelson, co-founder of 3-D printing technology company Carbon, Inc and empowerment initiative Re Inc. Steve is an investor, entrepreneur and board member who shares his journey from IBM to Wakefield Group to launching several successful start-ups along with his recent move to Northwest Arkansas.
Episode Transcript
Matt Waller 0:02
I mean, I jokingly think of it as kind of forks in the road that you look at every
two to three years to assess whether you're learning growing, developing and still
getting excited every day. Excellence, professionalism, innovation and collegiality.
These are the values of the Sam M. Walton College of Business explores in education,
business and the lives of people we meet every day. I'm Matt Waller Dean of the Walton
College. Welcome to the be epic podcast. I have with me today Steve Nelson, co-founder
at Carbon Inc, and co-founder of Re Inc. Steve has tremendous experience as a financier,
as a entrepreneur and as a leader, and he has lots of board experience as well. Thank
you so much, Steve, for joining me today. I really appreciate it.
Steve Nelson 0:21
Matt. Delighted to have the conversation. Thanks so much for including me.
Matt Waller 0:24
You really have a tremendous background in so many things. I know when you started
your career, you were at IBM and you were there for 14 years and left as vice president
and general manager. Rather than talk about the earlier days in your career, I would
like to start a little bit sooner. Start by talking a little bit about your experience
with Wakefield Group as managing partner. And Wakefield is a venture capital firm
for those listening.
Steve Nelson 0:57
Sure, maybe we'll describe a little bit this whole notion of Synchro destiny, which
you and I have had some fun conversations about before. But it was a bit fortunate
for me that I was with a person that was looking for somebody to kind of come in and
be the new Research Triangle Park, North Carolina General Partner and ultimately to
be the managing general partner of the firm. And I ended up being in New York City
offering advice on folks that might be good. And then I said, you know, if not for
the fact that I love what I'm doing in California, we're raising our children. They're
only five and seven, we have a great place, great lives. If not for that, I might
be interested. I was surprised to hear myself say it. Surprised to get the question.
I think they were surprised to hear me say it. And they asked me to put my thoughts
together and fly to Charlotte, North Carolina. In this case, from the Bay Area. I
lived in East Bay and I lived and worked in Silicon Valley, I guess for seven years.
Before I knew it. I was moving to North Carolina and I was basically asked to be the
managing general partner of Wakefield Group, which is a private investment vehicle
for an amazing family, the Spangler family out of Charlotte. They'd be a first generation
success story that would have gone long in Charlotte banking. That thing is now called
Bank of America went long and building products. So what long in a bunch of industries
almost a Warren Buffett of the South, just an incredible family. And I got asked to
be their person, that was an amazing 14-year almost 15-year run for me ultimately
kind of covering private investment. Think of it as more venture capital with some
growth equity investing in and around the southeast with a base and Research Triangle
Park. I learned enormously from my partners, but enormously on the job by doing the
job.
Matt Waller 2:30
Still, it was a big change for you in many different ways, not only in terms of location,
but you had been involved in IBM, you've been involved in a software company Informix.
And you'd been involved in a digital sports media company, a tremendous experience.
But this seemed to be a bit of a change in terms of your path. Is that right? In my
Steve Nelson 2:53
I'd say in a way yes. But the last role that I had, I jokingly referred to myself
getting bigger and bigger jobs and smaller and smaller companies from IBM to Informix
software to this fun little company called Quokka Sports which was a digital sports
company that ultimately went public. In that role, I kind of learned that company
creation business, and I was the one that Quokka Sports, I joined that thing. We had
no money. I'm like thinking back on what was I thinking? We had no money. Two lovely
young children. I had no way to pay myself. But somehow I wanted to be that first
kind of senior executive behind the co founders. And I was raising the money. And
ultimately, a great group called Accel Partners became our lead investor. So I kind
of learned the venture business by being on the inside of a young company. And I kind
of saw it from the ground up. So I was on the other side. And I often think that the
best way to be in a lot of businesses is to see it from different perspectives. So
the fact that I'd been a young company person, but maybe trained in big, important
companies, too. Before I knew it, I felt like I knew the VC business pretty well.
So all of a sudden, now I'm the one when I joined Wakefield Group to try to assess
it from the other side and try to help it add value to the companies we decide to
go back to invest in.
Matt Waller 3:57
Boy, that's so true. And you know, some of the extremely successful business people
I've interviewed on podcasts, I've seen this as a pattern. You know, some people want
to stay in the same line of business or in the same vertical or same function within
a company. But sometimes, you know, whether you're in a company getting different
functional experience, or going to other companies and seeing things from different
perspectives, it really gives you an advantage in future years.
Steve Nelson 4:25
I completely agree. I mean, I jokingly think of it as kind of forks in the road that
you look at every two to three years to assess whether you're learning, growing,
developing and still getting excited every day. And I started thinking if it wasn't
for the first path, I was at IBM, as you said, for almost 15 years, the fact that
I was willing to join a Silicon Valley based software company, I didn't have to do
that either. And didn't have to take other functions that IBM or other moves at IBM
and you think of your patchwork body of work is all based on kind of those choices.
In many ways. I think there's the choices we make that are the most important thing.
And for me, it's all about vitality, learning, growing and getting energized and I
always do that when I'm growing and developing with amazing new people where I think
I can learn and contribute in some way.
Matt Waller 5:04
I'd like to skip up to Carbon, the fun one. You co-founded that in 2013. So you've
been engaged there for eight years. But would you tell us a little bit about that
story?
Steve Nelson 5:16
Yeah, it's a a joy that's still being told. And it's amazing book instead of chapters
were the next chapters are still to be told as well. But I then ran this Wakefield
Group venture firm. So I felt like I had been in the company creation business, trying
to back people that wanted to change the world. And I thought in many ways, it was
like America's great business that I had, that involved investment judgment and company
building skills. But I noticed that what I loved the most about being an investor
was helping the companies because I felt like I go back to my IBM or Informix or Quokka
Sports days, I got a real joy out of being on the inside. So I was invited by people
that I knew, the people that I invested in, people that we had actually had an investment
in, we called liquidity of technologies, taking a company public. In fact, I was on
the board, I was the lead investor, I got drafted from and by the board to actually
be the CEO for 18 months when we were making a leadership transition at the time at
the company. And one of my friends that I knew well from liquidia said, Hey, we got
this really cool 3D printing company idea. Love to run it by you. Love to get your
thoughts. Maybe you want to be an investor, an advisor, launch president, somehow
get involved. And I'm like, well, this is like really interesting. Tell me more. At
the same time, I also had plenty on so I wasn't really looking to do new things. And
I guess, back to my forks in a road, this might have been 2013 or something like that.
They kind of say overnight on a text exchange, what do you think about coming to join
us as one of the four co-founders, two professors, a theoretical physicist from Moscow
State and me, and I didn't want to have any sense of imperialism. I was going to be
the CEO. But I called myself in my own mind chief business guy. But these were extraordinary
people that I knew really well, so I knew who I was getting into business with. But
I also joined the company at the time, we had $9,200 in the bank. We owed lawyers
$72,000. We had a printer made out of wood, and we were going to try to change manufacturing
worldwide. We wanted to change the way things were made. And I knew how extraordinary
my partners were in many ways. I felt honored to be their partners. So they built
this first 3D printer for 200 bucks in Dr. Alexander Ermoshkin's home. He's one of
my co founder partners; he and his son built it. They're amazing folks. And if you
think of building a 3D printer made out of wood, a broken projector off of eBay, a
stepper motor from Radio Shack, and some materials, I think, from Lowe's and maybe
Ace Hardware, both plywood and resins or chemical materials, and it ended up also
they came up with really what they called a window or a way of actually producing
the 3D printed parts. I call it a magic window they dreamed up and I had some probably
the best polymer chemist in the world and one of the best entrepreneurs in the world.
Now Dr. Joe DeSimone is one of my partners they came up with I was just the lucky
beneficiary of a contact lens type of material that was transparent to light, permeable
to oxygen, and you could 3D print in a photo chemical way, not in the electromechanical
way of the previous 25 years. All of a sudden, we had a 3D printer. And I remember
the first drawing was of an ice cube, but you could 3D print 25 times, maybe even
100 times faster. So it was kind of a breakthrough. We put all of our research and
studies into a research report into a paper. We debuted on the cover of Science Magazine,
on the floor of a TED talk in Vancouver, and I was the one is my cheap business guys.
Instead of the VC world, so well, I went to Sequoia Capital who are for sure the best
venture capital firm in the world and for sure, the best in history and one of my
great friends was at the time still a young and getting proven person named Jim Goetz
who's now gone on to become five years in a row, the number one tech investor in the
world Midas list number one, and we tried to raise one to 2 million from Jim and we
ended up getting a commitment basically for them to lead a round of 11 million the
same afternoon we started. And it's kind of gone crazy good. Four of us started with
negative 63,000 bucks in the bank and now we got 500 employees Silicon Valley based
blue so the blue chip and enterprise customers you name a prestigious enterprise customer,
we kind of have them. I call it a tiger by the tail, for sure. And I went from CEO
to becoming chairman. We then recruited Alan Mulally, who iconically ran Ford, and
was the President/CEO of Boeing Commercial to join our board and he's been amazing.
And then even Ellen Kullman -- who I think Alan helped recruit to the board, but Joe
DeSimone's help -- is now our CEO and she's the first woman in 212 years to run Dupont.
It's one of our big chemical suppliers. So it's been this handoff of amazing talent
to amazing talent. And now I just feel like the lucky guy, just active co-founder,
but we've had a crazy fun run and I think the next chapters are still to be told.
Well, your investor group is really impressive Sequoia Capital, Silverlake, Google Ventures, Piedmont Capital, Wakefield Group, GE Ventures, Fidelity, Johnson & Johnson, BMW, IDs and more.
Yeah, we made $680 million nobody's been coming at us. We haven't even really tried to raise it. It's phenomenal. So we're super well capitalized got hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. And I guess one of the big recruits that we have and I think about it was I met again through Jim Goetz is a bit like going to to me, Steven Spielberg that knows who you want in your movie if you want to have a blockbuster. Sequoia introduced me to Craig Carlson. At the time, he was immediately former original VP of Engineering at Tesla for Elon Musk for the first eight years pre-revenue. And I got to meet Craig on bench in his hometown. Fast forward a couple of months and Craig Carlson is our chief technology officer. And we probably have 35 or 40 Tesla people there. And we've got the founding engineering head of Tesla is our head of engineering. Greg has been phenomenal. Joe's son, Phil De Simone has been phenomenal from the beginning is really the Chief Business Development product person, he closes all the big deals, we've got this amazing team, but it's a bit again, back to my analogy of that Spielberg movie, everybody watched the movie, everybody wants to invest, everybody wants to join.
Matt Waller 10:59
you taking something that in my mind still is very new and cutting edge like 3D printing,
and reinventing it that's quite remarkable. You had described to me before, when we
met how this works, it does seem a little bit like magic.
Steve Nelson 11:15
Yeah, let me maybe describe it a little bit as if you imagine Terminator 2 liquid
metal man growing up out of the broth out of a puddle, we literally do a CAD drawing
of anything, think of that magic window that's made out of that contact lens kind
of material. And we now have probably not current, but 40 plus patents, maybe a couple
100 pending, so it's truly new to the world. You literally do all that play a movie
of the part you want to produce, and it stays liquid at the puddle on the magic window
and you have a UV curable light, I think it's a wavelength of 365, the same kind of
DLP chip you'd have in a movie theater, and you literally can pull the product out
of the broth or out of the lake. And if you've seen again, Liquid Metal Man where
they just grew up out of a puddle, it's very similar. So as a result, it's a breakthrough
25 to 100 times faster, much less expensive, higher quality parts, you can do used
parts, instead of it being the parts that you would use only for prototyping. It really
changes supply chain logistics, why would you make hundreds in advance if you don't
need them? Why don't you do it just in time? Why wouldn't you bring some of those
jobs or that capability back to the US? And why wouldn't everything be made for you?
Why wouldn't there be a size mat for pretty much everything things in your feet, maybe
things in your ears, maybe medical devices, I mean, kind of watch this space, because
you can actually make everything different. So it's bespoke. And its won because of
its speed because it's really focused on end-use manufacturing. So it's it's been
a breakthrough and kind of the joy of a lifetime. And I'm thinking about how in the
world that I get involved in that. I guess the commonalities are amazing people that
you hustle and try to work hard for that invite you in to be a co-founder. And also
when I think back on it, I had to leave my 15 year venture capital job to join a company
that had no money. Printer made out of wood. But I'd never thought of it that way.
Man. I just thought of it as the opportunity. And then the whole idea of getting back
inside a company just felt like a joy. And I had enough pattern recognition in a while
this is really different. Almost like we had an amazing screenplay. So I sole sourced
it to Steven Spielberg. In this case, Jim Goetz who again, I knew how good Jim was.
And he said yes in one afternoon to offer us five times more money than we were seeking.
We're done. And we went stealth for 18 months. And Jim is now the lead investor, quarterback
and calling all the shots. I'm just a cheerleader, helper, active, you know, with
some free time to do a few other things.
Matt Waller 13:30
What an amazing story. Congratulations.
Steve Nelson 13:34
So watch the space company's going really good. I think the zero to one part was the
invention that Alexander Ermoshkin and his son came up with with Joe DeSimone's help.
But at some point, scaling these companies is both fun and the next opportunity. And
we've been scaling it beautifully. And this is a company that's definitely built to
last.
Matt Waller 13:49
You are also co-founder of re Inc.
Steve Nelson 13:52
Yeah, there's a fun story there too. I guess when I think back on themes, again, I'm
a less young guy, much less young guy than you. So I've kind of seen the movie before
and what I ended up gravitating towards the big theme. So the whole idea of transforming
manufacturing, that's exciting. I'm also a proud dad, two amazing daughters, wonderful
wife of 30 plus years and this whole idea of equity, equality, fairness, even diversity
inclusion for women just resonated with me. And it turns out having lived in Chapel
Hill, where UNC Chapel Hill is, they have this iconic women's football team meaning
soccer team. And I knew that I was Mr. Nelson to a bunch of them because I kind of
guess drawn to greatness and that program's iconic in terms of how good it is going
back to the Mia Hamm days and they're the ones that won the women's World Cup back
in 2015. And at the same time are going to sue their boss over being treated unfairly.
You don't often aren't often best of the world at what you do. So I was advised you're
number one to the US Women's National Team Players Association. We brought in McKinsey
to do a study about getting them paid fairly etc. I came down to a friendly match
in Brazil. This we were joking about it. I just came from New York with my re friends,
my soccer friends Now iconic people, they weren't at the time, we said, you know,
yes, you ought to fight for equal pay, you ought to fight for being fair pay, I think
fair is a better word. Maybe you ought to get paid more, you ought to be treated equally
and paid fairly. But have you thought about starting a new company, we call it newco
-- N.E.W.C.O. --, where there isn't a bunch of unfairness, older white men that decide
how much you're worth? Let the world decide. So we kind of built this thing launched
it in 2019 at the Women's World Cup, the fundraising there has been crazy as well
literally raised money, I think, well, the first money was from Kleiner Perkins, which
would be a top two firm in history. We raised that literally at a zoom call, and the
money was in the bank in two days before the woman played their first match. And it
started out in streetwear. And it's really now morphed in this vertical social network
for change makers, some biking enthusiasts would know the Apple Strava that kind of
tracks everything for the biking enthusiast. This is more for the people that want
to change the world and be changemakers and it turns out my partners -- Megan Rapinoe,
Kristen Press, Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg -- became synonymous with the cultural
movement of fairness, equity, equality, fairness, and changing the world in a good
way. And even the fight for fair pay. It's been another tiger by the tail, they invited
me in because they knew me as Mr. Nelson, they now call me Steve as a co founder.
And it's 85% women owned all but probably 90% women run and me, they call me OG, I
thought that meant old guy, which is true. And that was actually original gangster.
I said, Okay, what does that mean? I said, no, it's actually good. You've been here
from the beginning. So I'm OG to my young friends. I'm twice as old and we've had
a ball. And we've added now to Kleiner Perkins, we raised money from New Enterprise
associates, NEA, who's fantastic firm from CAA, that probably the most important talent
agency in history out of LA, this university called Stanford that you probably heard
of, and it's kind of gone really good. For me, it's a joy, I would do anything with
these folks, I would do a not for profit, build a house. Anything. By the way, Megan
Rapinoe is not like one of these iconic people on the planet. And she's my friend
four years ago, almost five years ago. So it's been a bit of a wild ride. And for
me a joy in the fact that we actually have a company. And by the way back to the whole
notion of Yeah, fight to get paid fairly. But if you own something, there's this thing
called ownership that nobody decided that the world and how good you're going to be.
And we're off to a really good start. And let's just say their time and effort has
been really well spent with a lot of upside to research been a joy. Absolutely a joy.
Matt Waller 17:23
Well, that's awesome. You have a lot going on. You're on many boards, we haven't gone
through that. But there's one board that I would like to talk a little bit about.
You are one of the founding board members of the Whole Health Institute.
Steve Nelson 17:37
Yeah, it's gonna be the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences, kind
of the new med school, but also I was kind of a founding advisor before the whole
health institute even started. I had the great joy of meeting Alice. Alice Walton
that is, to me is like an entrepreneur. She's an innovator, she's an out of the box
thinker. A lot of people would say she's the most like her dad, pretty iconic guy
that started this fortune one company, there in town. Alice has become a amazing person
in my life, amazing friend and invited me not only was there from the beginning of
the Whole Health Institute, a bit of a founding advisor, even into leading the search
for Tracy Gaudet, who's done a fantastic job, and the team behind all of that. But
now this new med school and I guess her first are tied for first new board member
of the Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences. But love Alice and what
she wants to do to transform healthcare in America.
Matt Waller 18:23
Clearly, you've been involved in some very transformational businesses. This seems
to be remarkably transformational because it could transform healthcare business in
the United States.
Steve Nelson 18:37
Yeah, it's, it's got big dreams. I just love people that are big dreamers, I kind
of say it all begins with a dream. And Alice Walton and her whole initiative at Whole
Health wants to transform healthcare in America, think of it as also East meets West.
So it's not all about fee for service. It's about keeping people healthy. It's about
the move to value based care, new payment models, new approaches, new partnerships,
you may have seen a big launch of a conversation and for specialties with the Cleveland
Clinic, pretty much everybody on the planet that's anybody or even best in the world
of what you do wants to partner so it's been a good a joy that you put some amazing
people in the same room. And the beautiful thing is it's starting in Northwest Arkansas
in the hometown of where this amazing family and you know, my friend Alice, grew up.
So it's a joy for me to try to help any way I can. And that case, it's completely
not for profit. I don't need or want anything out of it. I just get energy and vitality.
I love hanging around people like Alice in the whole health crowd. They've been amazing.
Matt Waller 19:34
It is. It's tremendous. What made you decide to move to Northwest Arkansas? Was it
that?
Steve Nelson 19:40
yeah, I guess COVID has a way of doing things for everybody in the world. Right? I
mean, we always joke about that. We were 20 year people in North Carolina. Our daughters
have 20 Somethings that live in LA in Santa Monica, Brentwood kind of area. And they
couldn't really come back and see us so we couldn't really go see them in that window
of time and my wife beautifully proudly pronounces hey, I want to buy a sprinter van.
When we get a sprinter van and just kind of do our life from the road a little bit,
so which is what we did, and we're out visiting them. And again, at this point, I'm
hundreds of conversations into life with Alice and the whole health crowd. And she
has a stop through town on our trip, literally from LA back to North Carolina, because
we were still at the time owning a home and property in North Carolina after 20 years
of living there. Big empty nester house, it wasn't really required. We stopped, stayed
at the 21-C, spent a lot of time with Alice and some of her family members toured
the place. Before you know it, somebody called and said, hey, there might be a unit
available. And we took a look at it on like 10 minutes notice. And at the seven minute
mark of being toured around it, my wife says we'll take it. So that's back to the
was that planned? Was that in a spreadsheet? No, I guess that's a blank moment of
just forks in roads and amazing people. And I really, I'll add to it. So Alice and
the Whole Health Institute for both my wife and I, my dear wife, Susan, and I is a
huge draw for us. Because we just feel like we could have been involved from the ground
up with something great. That's really important. Again, if you think of themes, health
and wellness, and healing is really important theme. So is changing manufacturing.
So is equity, equality, fairness for women. But I also think Bentonville in Northwest
Arkansas could be this next great place to start and grow a business. There's no way.
And the reason any reasons, it can't be that next great place. It's very much the
way I felt about North Carolina in late 1999, when we moved there when we just picked
up and moved. So it's very similar to pick up and move. And there's been amazing folks.
And I feel like there's no reason. And by the way that told you, Matt, you're fantastic
at what you do, we wouldn't have to invent somebody as good as you that wanted to
actually be transformative on a local level, and so many professional ways, and just
had joyous times with you already. So the whole idea of being around people, when
you wake up every day excited about who's there. It's just something I get excited
about. And I love it as a base for next chapters. So that's the way I guess it came
to be. And here we are. And it's been fantastic.
Matt Waller 22:02
What you say is so true. What makes life joyful is the people you're around. I so
much agree with that. And there are so many wonderful people to be around. So we are
fortunate. You have been an extremely successful business leader in many, many different
dimensions. Really a paragon, I think for young people who want to go into business,
what would you recommend to our students, whether they be undergraduates or graduate
students?
Steve Nelson 22:35
I really appreciate the question. And of all the things we've talked about, this is
probably my favorite, I get so much energy out of young, talented people. At some
point, I'm the less young guy no matter what. So the whole idea of trying to help.
And we come across Matt, you and I as wise, but we just have seen the movie before
and lived longer and have some life learnings to share. There's a few if you don't
mind me mentioning them would be, I'me really big on exploring your interests to find
your passions, and then open the aperture wide to find out what you love. And if you
could find the people, places, things that or even who inspire you, give you energy,
give you vitality. I think that brings inspiration into your life. And it helps you
or even create your life calling and I'm really big on what's your life calling What's
your reason for being. And for me, it's those things that give you the most energy,
the most vitality is usually your passions over time, and you can over time, find
a way to work in those fields. And then find the people around that that are kind
of best at what they do. And prioritize those folks. You know, first and foremost,
I love to go to work on them, with them, for them. I don't need any gain out of it.
My gain is the energy and vitality I get out of it and the learnings I get out of
it. And as we talked about the joy, and sometimes I feel like I've I'm honored privileged
lucky to even be alongside them. Like who am I? I'm just this guy that's had these
forks in the road that some of them are worked out pretty well. So this whole idea
of combining what you love to do what you with what you do for a living. I think it's
fantastic as well, I guess if I was thinking of skills to grow, I think Systems Thinking
is good. That's where innovation and opportunity think of those key skills, you know,
wide and deep be an expert at something but be broad enough liberal arts, with the
sciences. I think being technology aware, and or savvy. I think being able to use
these tools is really important. I think being competitive and actually wanting to
do well. I don't mean competing against other people but wanting to do well. Maybe
that's better said as conscientiousness or grit. And then there's nothing better than
being a great communicator, I think both verbal and written. And I love the idea of
being of service to others. And so the longer you live, the more and I'm sure you
realize that maybe you've realized that your whole life. I really got it in the last
decade or so. This whole idea of being service to others is where I get my joy. It's
not by doing my thing is is by helping others. So I guess those are the big things
that I would say. But I'd actually add to it, you know, be a dreamer, you know, I
now hang around because of Sequoia and Alice Walton and my friends at Kleiner, Perkins,
John Doerr, these are dreamers that think anything is possible. And I guess I've always
been the person personally, no matter what I'm going to give everything my absolute
best effort, they're going to get my best me. If we can control having a positive
attitude and being upbeat about things I don't know many pessimistic successful folks.
I don't hang around with them anyway. And then being a great team player, and then
it doesn't feel like work if you're working alongside amazing people. Those are some
of the things that I really have enjoyed, I guess over the last many years is picking
projects that I'm passionate about finding the absolute best people associated with
it. And there's, you know, there's been talk on the engineering side of things of
10x. Engineers, like some engineers are 10 times better, doesn't mean they're better
people. And this means just engineers, I just think some people are just extraordinary
at what they do. And if you could find a way to be a talent scout, and get your way
to those extraordinary people. That's where the magic really happens is, you know,
big dreams, big needs, extraordinary people. And it doesn't thence feel like work
at all, it feels like a joy. And we've used that word. I think, you know, happiness
is fleeting. Joy is not, I think you get joy from serving and helping others. And
for me, it never fades to try to be of service and helping other folks. And it never
fades to want to be around incredible people. So I guess those would be some of the
life lessons. You can't always do that job. One. I'm thinking when I was a young IBM
guy that did I know this? No way. But this is like if I was to get beamed up to another
planet and had to offer these words based on now many decades of being around extraordinary
people and some fun projects. I'd want to share those words,
Matt Waller 27:01
Based on my observation of you, you really live this service to others. I know you're
doing it in many ways with the Whole Health Institute. No, but you you're doing it
with the university too helping us with the entrepreneurship efforts. And I really
appreciate that we're, we're lucky you decided to move here and get engaged.
Steve Nelson 27:20
So I'm the lucky one. And again, lucky to have met you, man have so enjoyed our conversations,
and I hope there's many, many more opportunity to work side by side. I'm really proud
of what you're doing. And your team is doing. And there's a big opportunity for somebody
to do something really special somewhere in the nation. And I don't know why northwest
Arkansas, and things emanating from your leadership and kind of locking arms with
some other incredible people and I'm, I'm bringing my friends through town. So my
you know, dear friend, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins is coming to town for the second
time. Jim Goetz is coming to town as you well know, from Sequoia and I don't think
he's spoken publicly in six years. He's coming in April. So we're getting the best
in the world kind of folks that want to come to town to tell their story to listen,
learn and offer thoughts and these are folks that in theory have already won at life.
But they want to offer gifts to others and they're picking our town in Northwest Arkansas
to have those conversations.
Matt Waller 28:12
Steve, thank you so much for taking time today to visit with us andit's been a really
interesting conversation and really appreciate you. Have a wonderful holiday.
Steve Nelson 28:22
I appreciate that Matt.
Matt Waller 28:22
On behalf of the Sam M Walton College of Business I want to thank everyone for spending
time with us for another engaging conversation you can subscribe by going to your
favorite podcast service and searching be epic B E E P IC
Matthew A. Waller is dean emeritus of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and professor of supply
chain management. His work as a professor, researcher, and consultant is synergistic,
blending academic research with practical insights from industry experience. This
continuous cycle of learning and application makes his work more effective, relevant,
and impactful.His goals include contributing to academia through high-quality research and publications,
cultivating the next generation of professionals through excellent teaching, and creating
value for the organizations he consults by optimizing their strategy and investments.
