Community First, Token Second with Greg Isenberg, Founder of Late Checkout

Charlie Shrem (0:00)

Hey, everyone, I'm Charlie Shrem. And this episode of Untold Stories is sponsored by Coingaming, permission.io and Bitrex Global. You'll hear more about them later in this amazing episode.

I'm so excited to be doing this episode. What's up, everyone? I'm Charlie Shrem. And this is Untold Stories, where twice a week, we dive deep with some of crypto's most influential leaders, and now some of non-crypto's most influential leaders. And we'll talk about that today. So we can find out how this movement actually came to be and how we got here today.

This show is produced in audio and video, so make sure you check us out on YouTube and Spotify, iTunes, wherever you get your podcast. And the show is proudly powered by the BlockWorks Group, my production company. They have over 20 podcasts in their networks, including mine and my friend's. So make sure you check them out at blockworksgroup.io. With that, today's guest is someone who I've probably, I've known him, I've known you, Greg, for my whole, almost my whole life, more than half of my life, years-wise, definitely my adult life before I could even drink alcohol legally.

But this is probably the only second time we've ever spoke after all those years. Greg Isenberg, it's good to talk to you again after 13 years or 10 years or whatever it was. How are you? What have you been up to?

Greg Isenberg (1:17)

Good, man. It's like, this is like a long lost brothers moment.

Charlie Shrem (1:21)

Yes.

Greg Isenberg (1:21)

That we're finally reunited.

Charlie Shrem (1:24)

So, for those, so everyone who's listening to the show knows that a part of the research that I do is I'll like go into my email to see if I've spoken to this person or met to this person before. And I'm always being surprised.

But what was crazy with Greg was, I got into Bitcoin and I was like in college and I was part of, no one really knew, I was part of one industry before, and that was the daily deal industry. And we talk about like crypto, that was like such a different world, the daily checkout. And when you had emailed me, I wasn't even out of high school, it was the summer of me graduating high school.

And I was like working in my cousin's warehouse. And I think you came to visit, that was like in Canarsie, Brooklyn. I was like, not even, I was still living in my parents' house, like it was pre-world.

Greg Isenberg (2:12)

Well, what I didn't tell you then, so I was maybe a year or two older than you, and I was living in Montreal, Canada.

Charlie Shrem (2:22)

Oh, we got old.

Greg Isenberg (2:24)

We got old real quick.

Charlie Shrem (2:25)

Yeah, we did.

Greg Isenberg (2:27)

And, you know, I had this daily sort of very similar website, and I really liked what you guys were doing. And I was kind of like, you know what, I'm gonna take, and you were like, hey, if you're ever in New York, like hit me up. So I actually went to New York just to meet with you. Oh, wow.

Charlie Shrem (2:48)

Before Bitcoin days.

Greg Isenberg (2:50)

Before Bitcoin days.

Charlie Shrem (2:51)

That's crazy.

Greg Isenberg (2:52)

And then I came to that warehouse, and it was like, you know, it was kind of like intense, you know.

Charlie Shrem (3:00)

It was.

I think that company, that business experience was probably the first real experience in the business world. And that all came from like my cousin telling me, hey, do you wanna sell some of these products, you know, on the internet, build a website? I mean, so these were, we're talking about like crypto and building DeFi wallets and talking about what you're working on, your growth advisor to TikTok and all these different things. I mean, we're talking about the days when simply having a website with a checkout was like ahead of the curve. When you and I were first getting into the adult world and look where we are today, it's crazy to think that what you need to, now you have companies that come to you and say, hey, we have companies and websites and products. Now we need to build communities.

And that's what you do. And it's like, imagine if you came to me like 10 years ago, say, hey, Charlie, I'm going to build a community to you. I'd be like, the fuck are you talking about? What the hell is a community? That was not even an internet buzzword.

Greg Isenberg (4:02)

Yeah, I mean, I think what would happen is like back then, it was like the internet was a wild, wild, wild west. And it was super, super primitive.