In this snark-filled episode of the Chad and Cheese Podcast, Joel, Chad, and Lieven serve up their usual blend of sharp wit and sharp analysis, dissecting everything from Ukraine's military maneuvers to the UK’s job market makeover. No European stereotype is safe, and no topic is too serious (or ridiculous) for the boys to tackle.
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This snark-filled synopsis captures the irreverent tone of the podcast while summarizing the key points with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION (AI did it)
Chad Sowash (00:02.734)
which can run into your.
Joel (00:34.308)
Three guys who won't be riding a German Ferris wheel anytime soon. You're listening to the Chad and Cheese Podcast Does Europe. I'm your cohost, Joel Nordstream Cheeseman.
Chad Sowash (00:44.96)
I'm Chad, vive la France! So watch.
Lieven (00:49.058)
And I'm leaving Bunga Bunga's back baby, for new and awesome.
Joel (00:53.476)
And on this episode, the UK goes degree less, lazy Belgians, and buy or sell. Let's do this.
Chad Sowash (01:04.738)
You mean we've got buyer sell to do after your massive buyer sell last week? Jesus, there were like six companies, right? Yeah.
Joel (01:10.692)
Dude, so much money, so much money, so much money. We're back boys. How long has it been since we were all in the same show? Yeah. So long, so long. Chad's turning into Pitbull. He's been in Portugal for too damn long.
Chad Sowash (01:15.926)
All three of us. A couple of months. Yeah. Yeah. Two months, man.
Lieven (01:17.21)
Yeah, too long.
Chad Sowash (01:25.999)
It's unfortunately going to change in a couple of weeks. I got to come back to the States.
Joel (01:30.882)
Yeah, he's getting saltier because he has to come back to the to the US soon. So this should be an interesting, interesting show. Ukraine, holy shit. Chad, you're a military guy. I want to know your thoughts on Ukraine and the offensive. What's going on?
Chad Sowash (01:35.746)
Yes.
Chad Sowash (01:40.706)
Nah, yeah.
Chad Sowash (01:46.968)
Brilliant, Putin looks like a little bitch right now. They they are gaining. They've gained more land in the last few weeks than Putin has in the last year.
Joel (02:20.323)
Mm
Chad Sowash (02:46.334)
and I don't know. It's just, it's, it's interesting from my standpoint to watch it. they had to do something. They couldn't just sit there and, and play the trench warfare game. They could, but they'd probably lose. and this brings an entirely different dynamic to how far do they go into Russia? And remember as Russia started to, they start gaining back some of that other land. Do communities just automatically say, yeah, we're with you. Cause that guy's an asshole.
Joel (03:10.851)
Mm -hmm.
Chad Sowash (03:50.543)
But they haven't had to. I think what we're seeing is Russians are sick and tired of doing this fight because they didn't want to do it in the first place.
Joel (04:00.302)
Yeah, it's, to me and I, you know, I've done a little study on, on pincher movements and world history and military stuff. this reminded me a lot of sort of, Hitler's battle of the bulge. it was a, that in that case, it was a desperation move to say like, let's get the best troops we possibly have. Create an offensive, go in and see what we can do. This feels like a push into Russia. Now Russia is the second most powerful military in the world and can't dislodge Ukraine after are we in
Lieven (04:17.326)
like let's get the best troops we possibly have, crane defenses, go in and see what we can do. This feels like a push into Russia. Now Russia is the second most powerful military in the world. can't just log a crane after a rain.
Joel (04:29.796)
13 days, 14, almost two weeks now that they've been in the country and they just keep, just keep marching on. They're destroying bridges. So supplies can't get to troops while all this is happening is my understanding that Russia is going deeper into Ukraine, which to me feels like we want them to go deeper into Ukraine. Because to your point, if a pincher movement comes to envelop what's in Russia on the other side of the front, becomes really bad.
Lieven (04:30.682)
14 days, almost two weeks now that they've been in the country, and they just keep marching on, destroying bridges, social supplies, getting into troops. While all this is happening, it's my understanding that Russia is going deeper into Ukraine, which to me feels like we want them to go deeper into Ukraine. Because to your point, if the Pinscher movement comes to envelop what's in Russia on the other side of the front, it becomes really bad for Russia.
Chad Sowash (04:52.152)
Mm -hmm.
Joel (04:56.568)
for Russia and we've already proven that Russia can't come in on the backside of Ukraine if they loop around and start enveloping the Russian army within Ukraine. So this is incredibly fascinating. from my perspective, makes Russia look super weak. We're looking at China sort of abandoning, Russia and taking money from them. Like if China says we, bet on the wrong horse, we're out, then Putin's definitely done because China is funding, much of the war.
Lieven (05:13.622)
China is of abandoning Russia and money from them. If China says we've been on the wrong course, then Putin's definitely done it because China is funding much of the war in addition to much of Europe.
Joel (05:25.292)
In addition to much, much of Europe that's funding the war, but that's a different, different topic, but it's fascinating to me. And if you like war history and what's going on, this is interesting. also do think that with the election coming in America, Ukraine has realized that if, if Trump gets in, there's a good chance that we won't be getting the aid that we have. And we need to move now with a hundred days to go on the election to make sure that public sentiment is behind us and we can continue to fight this fight.
Lieven (05:30.01)
It's fascinating to me, and if you like war history and what's going on, it's interesting. I also do think that when the election coming, America, Ukraine has realized that if Trump gets in, there's a good chance that we won't be getting the A that we have.
Lieven (05:46.254)
make sure the public sense is behind us.
Lieven (05:59.14)
Some people describe it as a desperate move to prepare for negotiations, but I thought it could relieve some pressure from the front if you have to force Putin to withdraw troops because he has to defend his huge homeland. He hasn't got any army left, think, in Russia or nothing substantial. So I think it was a brilliant move. But I'm not a strategist. I can't say anything intelligent about it.
But I did have a great laugh with those Ukrainian soldiers making the best out of it and putting Google reviews about all the shops they visited in Russia. It was amazing. Just a stupid example about a gas station just across the border. One star can't recommend. I filled 12 Leopard tanks, no discount at all. So these kind of things. And hundreds of shops got a bad review. So I like them.
Chad Sowash (06:32.024)
You
Joel (06:34.712)
Yeah.
Chad Sowash (06:44.078)
Hahaha
Joel (06:45.388)
Yeah.
Joel (06:52.578)
My understanding is while you mentioned the Leopards, those aren't even being, like the heavy stuff isn't even being used yet. So some, some analysts think that they're holding back for a real push once they get a foothold with within Russia. So it should be interesting to watch. F 16th. Yeah.
Lieven (06:53.24)
and up.
Chad Sowash (07:07.69)
F -16s have been seen, which is, that's, again, some of the big hardware that they haven't had, they now can start to integrate. again, Russia has been overextended. They don't have a big population. They have one of the biggest land masses to be able to try to protect. So, I mean, again, I don't know why this asshole wants more land when he's got...
so much in the first place, other than he's afraid of the front that he actually has on the Ukraine side. It's a pretty big front.
Lieven (07:42.458)
creating some kind of a corridor, what's it called? A zone which could be demilitarized to provide a border in between Russia and Ukraine could be a great idea. We could put some blue helmets in it to preserve peace like they did 20 years ago in Yugoslavia. Why not? At some point.
Chad Sowash (07:48.642)
Yeah.
Joel (07:57.945)
Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't want NATO at his doorstep. That's the issue. I mean, Russian history.
Chad Sowash (08:04.117)
No? Well, did you -
Lieven (08:04.346)
Yeah, but then he wouldn't have NATO, there would be a border. well.
Chad Sowash (08:09.139)
Make them a part of NATO and then you don't have to worry about that shit.
Lieven (08:12.238)
Hmm.
Joel (08:14.744)
Let's get the shout out, shall we?
Joel (08:18.894)
I'll go first. I was blown away, watching TV the other day here in America. there was a Skechers commercial with Harry Kane and a lot of Americans listening to this won't know who the hell Harry Kane is, but unless your name is messy and maybe Ronaldo, you don't get a commercial, in America. and I've, I've always been skeptical that soccer slash football could be something in America.
Chad Sowash (08:35.327)
they were.
Chad Sowash (08:41.356)
Mm.
Joel (08:46.978)
When I see Harry Kane on a Skechers ad, by the way, with Snoop Dogg, it makes me think like there could be up. So I'm going to play the commercial because I know you guys play the audio because I know you guys aren't seeing this commercial in Europe and the Europeans aren't, but this is imagine a locker room with a British accent, basically carrying the water for the, the, the audible on this with Harry Kane and then Snoop Dogg in a locker room. Here we go.
Lieven (08:48.366)
I'm going to play the audio because I you guys aren't seeing this commercial in Europe. Imagine a locker room with a British accent basically carrying water. Audible on this with Harry Kane and then Snoop Dogg.
Lieven (09:30.526)
you
Joel (09:44.056)
What, what screams cool more than some slip on sketchers and Snoop Dogg, but anyway, the fact that Harry Kane is in an ad in America playing right now gives me hope and should give hope to soccer fans everywhere that soccer may be arriving finally in the United States.
Chad Sowash (09:49.294)
Snoop Dogg, Snoop Dogg.
Chad Sowash (10:00.908)
I would say that it is. I would say that it is. And as we're going from ad, let's talk about another ad. I'm gonna go ahead and show it. Sorry kids. We'll have it on a clip, I'm sure. But we've got a new ad from our friends over at StepStone. And it's not a bad ad. It says, how I met my other job. And it has the StepStone colors on it. The problem is, it looks like, because of the new colors, it looks like somebody threw up on the side of a bus stop.
So good job, StepStone and being able to ads out there in this is in German, but in Germany, probably all the way throughout all of the areas in which you have sites like the UK and Ireland. Now we're going to have nothing but these ugly ass puke looking signs all over bus stops all over Europe. Good to go. Great read zone.
Joel (10:37.614)
Mm
Lieven (10:56.506)
Thank
Joel (10:59.214)
Isn't it fascinating that the headline is in English and then the subhead is in, in German. Very European, very European thing. Very European thing. Yeah. You don't like the colors, man. You're going to come around. I'm sure one of these days.
Chad Sowash (11:04.768)
It is, yes. Yes, very much so, very much so.
that's ugliest shit dude. That is ugliest.
Lieven (11:13.57)
It's not even that ugly, I mean you're exaggerating.
Chad Sowash (11:17.558)
It is that ugly. I'm posting that all over. It's not that bad. I've seen worse. I've seen worse.
Joel (11:17.796)
Leaven's always the voice reason. It's not that bad. It's hues of pink, pink and purple. What's wrong with that? It's lovely. Leaven what you got, man.
Lieven (11:24.312)
We've seen worse.
Lieven (11:29.082)
Thank
Topics.
Chad Sowash (11:33.877)
Okay.
Joel (11:35.138)
No shout out.
Lieven (11:35.48)
Because I thought we agreed on me being in holiday still because Rika was on holiday and I didn't prepare the topics or the shout outs. So we said, let's go smoothly from. Yeah.
Chad Sowash (11:41.225)
Hahahaha
Chad Sowash (11:46.126)
Let's go.
Joel (11:46.958)
It's your world, Leaven. We're just living in this thing, baby.
Lieven (11:49.464)
Hahaha.
Chad Sowash (11:50.977)
I have it!
Joel (11:54.372)
Guys, a new LinkedIn study says the UK job market shows a 14 .2 % rise in degree less job postings and increased focused on apprenticeships. The data highlights a skills -based hiring approach with soft skills becoming crucial and predicts a 65 % shift in job skills by 2030. skills -based hiring has been a hot topic of late. What are your thoughts on the latest study from LinkedIn?
Chad Sowash (12:22.914)
I think it always has been. The problem is what we did, at least in the US, and it's easier in Europe to be able to go to university. But now, because of the actual positions and technology and how fast technology is moving, whether it's AI, LLMs, or just being a developer overall, certifications are the key.
to be able to get into the market and start getting that experience and then continue to learn while you work. I think this is literally going to be the new economy. We always talk about how the economy works in cycles and it does. But in this case, I don't think this is the death of the degree. Don't get me wrong, right? Because there still going to be many degrees out there that you're going to need to have, but in many other areas.
you're not gonna need a degree. You're just gonna need certification and that certification is gonna get you into a job. Then you're gonna get the experience and you're gonna continue to collect certifications as you go. I think this could be, should be the new normal.
Joel (13:31.396)
So when we were, Chad, we get the fortunate, blessings of being able to travel quite a bit. And we've been in the UK, a multitude of times. And what I think Americans have a hard time appreciating and throughout Europe really is the class system, where you went to school, where you were born, who your parents are have a great amount of, of importance versus America in Europe. So when you see stories like
Chad Sowash (13:38.349)
Mm
Joel (13:59.49)
degrees are becoming less important in a society where class and where you're born and where you went to school is of utmost importance. This is like a big deal. because I assume that having a degree is historically very important, in the UK as well as it is in all of Europe. What I see in much of this is, is supply and demand as demand for talent goes up, companies get less and less stringent upon what we need in terms of letting people through the door.
And historically, do you have a degree or not was a nice pre -screening tool to get people in the door or not. The reality around England, you have a few things going on right now. We're not replacing people like we like historically we have. There's about one and a half children or one and a half, there's one and a half children born to every mother within UK and England. That was back in 2018. I believe the replacement number is 2 .1.
So we're having an older population being supported by a smaller, smaller, much smaller, base to support that in. And that's a problem. The second thing you have is, is Brexit. Brexit has been, by what I can tell, a really negative in terms of immigration into, into the UK. In fact, we're seeing a brain drain of people leaving England because they want to be part of the EU or part of America, which is a bigger.
system that offers more opportunity. And then the third thing, which is also related to Brexit, is that the UK's immigration policy has tightened up because of what's called a Britain First initiative. They're on a points -based system now in terms of getting immigrants into the country. So if you take all these things, fewer people being born in England, more people leaving, fewer people let in, what happens when all those things come together? We have to loosen up the
Chad Sowash (15:24.045)
Mm
Joel (15:53.41)
the mandatory things that we have in terms of employment. And you're going to see more and more, degree -less jobs and more apprenticeships and things like that, because it's, it's simply a necessity if they want to have jobs get done, in the UK.
Chad Sowash (16:11.606)
Leave it.
Lieven (16:15.111)
I agree. I feel it's always been like that. I mean, how do you develop skills or by education or by going to college and you learn some skills or by experience just by doing so you might be born with talents, but developing skills requires time and or you spend the time at school learning the skills and then you go, you might enter the labor markets higher on the ladder or you start lower and you start learning on the job. But I don't think
The hiring has changed that much. just, we are less picky than we used to be because the shortage on the labor market. So where we once, back in the days when we had to choose between five candidates, it was easy to get a guy with the highest degrees because if he turns out to be a loser, I couldn't know it as a recruiter because he had great degrees. And if he turns out to be a mishire, it's not my fault.
But now, as a recruiter, you have to have the guts to say, this guy actually doesn't have any degree at all, hasn't been to college, but he's been working for 20 years in this office and he probably knows everything he needs to know at our company. So I think as a recruiter, you have to have some maturity to present a guy like that. But for me, things haven't changed that much in my opinion.
I do think there's an impact of generative AI, however, I think some skills just aren't necessary anymore. And Europe language knowledge always was a very big thing. In Belgium, for example, we have 11 million people, we have three languages. So you have Dutch, you have German, you have French. Definitely for the Flemish speaking people, you have to know Dutch and French. That's really a necessity. German, not really, but it's really small. But French and Dutch was...
Chad Sowash (17:59.16)
Mm
Lieven (18:05.262)
But now with Chachipiti, being able to translate everything, soon even in real time with Jaws Ears, we already use them. I think that's a skill not necessary anymore. And also blue collar. mean, it's suddenly very, how do I say it? Very on the rise again. People actually start studying blue collar jobs again, start learning because they know those just low level administration jobs are gone.
Joel (18:13.422)
Mm
Joel (18:28.418)
Mm
Lieven (18:35.054)
So for us, things are changing in a good way and develop, first as recruiter, mean, as a hiring company, it's getting easier to a certain extent because of the clients being less picky about education and about degrees and blue color being on the rise again.
Chad Sowash (18:51.63)
Well, don't you think that, I mean, there's a huge difference between what we know today, blue collar, white collar, white collar, in many cases, you you can do it from anywhere. You take a look at companies like Deal and Atlas and Velocity Global who are doing EOR and they're doing expansion for companies into other countries just to be able to find great talent. Now that's white collar talent, right? Versus the blue collar talent that has to work in that area.
I really see on the white collar side that there's going to be a huge shift in the landscape. And again, that has to do with tech. when we're talking about, you know, again, people coming into the countries. Yeah, I think I think in in some cases it's because of opportunity and other cases is because they're trying to get the hell out of their own country, which is which is a problem. And that I think is a problem that we need to figure out.
how to help solve so that those people don't have to leave their homes and then have to go to another country because global warming or because of the government or what have you. And that's the hard part. But that all impacts the labor force in a very big way.
Joel (20:05.304)
Leaven, you're sort of on the front lines of this with companies that are hiring and your own company and companies at House of HR. Have you guys loosened up the requirements in terms of applying to a job at House of HR? And are you seeing more and more of your clients not require a degree when they post a job? What are you seeing from the front lines?
Lieven (20:27.13)
from our own companies, it depends. We have 52 or 54 by now. Companies all active in recruitment. have the, yeah, it really is. If you would ask me to give all 54 names, I would have to thank us, I guess. But, no, it depends. So if you look at corporate level where I'm working, we only have become pickier.
Joel (20:32.846)
So hard to keep up.
Joel (20:41.08)
We won't do that.
Lieven (20:52.442)
We really need the best of the best. And the bigger we get, the better our people need to be because everything becomes so complex. I'm talking about fines. I'm talking about legal, these kinds of things. You just can't have an amateur running a legal department of a 3 billion company, 3 .5. So there, we have become even more strict. for our clients, our clients are less strict than they used to be. Now they actually...
Joel (21:08.494)
Mm
Lieven (21:22.458)
invest more in training on the job and sometimes they accept people they wouldn't have accepted 20 years ago and also we spent lots of energy in selling our clients to the customer and really preparing a good dossier if we believe in the candidates we have to sell this candidate to the client we know he will do just fine and if we do a bad placement we lose money in the end because it takes a lot of time and money to find the right person to check him to do everything
And then if he leaves the company after six weeks, it will cost us. So we have to make sure it's a good placement, but we also have to convince the client it's a good placement. We have to believe it. But I think, yes, people are, they tend to be more open -minded. It's about also inclusion, diversity, stuff we wouldn't, I have to choose my words now.
But candidates we wouldn't have proposed 20 years ago will be proposed definitely now. I will be accepted. I will do a great job. emotions are changing about it.
Joel (22:27.087)
That's great insight.
Chad Sowash (22:27.182)
Well, that's I mean, that sounds like a positive because you you you were starting to take away some of those barriers that were in place before where individuals who could maybe females or of, you know, other other racial backgrounds, they just they didn't have the opportunity. Now they have the opportunity and the companies are more inviting to be able to train them as they get as they get into the organization. mean, that to me is a huge positive.
Lieven (22:29.358)
Very positive.
Lieven (22:54.874)
You know, I remember 20, 25 years ago, I was just starting as a young sales guy for a recruitment company. And I entered the office of a big company Antwerp. It's a long time ago and things have changed, but still. And the guy said, okay, Mr. Van Jureners, we said it in Dutch, don't joke around. No colored people, no women. And I said, okay, I can imagine why you don't want no women. I can imagine why you want no women, but why no colored people?
Chad Sowash (23:17.388)
Wow. Hello.
Lieven (23:24.174)
And he laughed, but he was serious and I left and we never did business. This is something that couldn't happen anymore today. Some clients might still think that way, but they wouldn't dare to say it. This just isn't done anymore. So things have changed in a very good way. But back in the days, this was very natural for people to feel it and to ventilate, to speak out. well.
Joel (23:50.085)
I think Chad, you've called that growth in the past. I think you've, you've called that growth.
Lieven (23:55.21)
percent of the time it
Chad Sowash (23:56.174)
growth.
Joel (23:58.722)
All right guys, let's move on to one of my favorite things, buy or sell. we usually don't have an ad break. Okay.
Chad Sowash (23:59.213)
It is growth.
Chad Sowash (24:09.164)
Yeah, we do. After number one, we have an ad break.
Joel (24:12.504)
but not after number two. So I just mixed it up. Do we have two ad breaks?
Chad Sowash (24:15.682)
This is number one. This is number one. No, we just have one ad break and it's after number one. Yeah. Yes. It's okay.
Joel (24:20.536)
just the one, it's after the first one. All right.
All right, boys, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll play a little buy or sell.
Lieven (24:27.714)
We'll a break and when we come back we'll play a little bit.
Joel (24:34.5)
All right, guys. One of my favorite things, little buy or sell. If you don't know what the hell we're doing, we talked about three companies that recently raised some money. I read a summary and we all buy or sell the business. Makes sense to everybody. Pretty cut and dry. Let's talk about impact pool. They've raised $4 million in a series a the Stockholm based startup aims to link professionals with global impact jobs, promoting diversity and using AI for job matching.
Supported by Media House, company that Leaven knows a few things about, and Fort Knox Chad. Are you ready to jump into the impact pool or is the water a little too cold?
Chad Sowash (25:17.614)
This is too close to Deadpool. I just saw Deadpool Wolverine this weekend and loved it. So, yeah. So let's let's jump into the press release quote since its inception in 2015, which you'd said Impact Pull has managed to register nearly one million candidates from 195 countries and support over 200 or 2500 organizations worldwide. End quote. OK. They've been around almost 10 years.
That many companies, that many countries, how many jobs do you think they have on their website?
Joel (25:52.708)
You're going to tell us, I bet.
Lieven (25:54.829)
Yeah, I checked
Chad Sowash (25:54.99)
4192. If I am a job seeker and I land on a job site with only 4192 jobs, I'm closing out that tab. It's not worth my time. Why haven't they integrated basic job feeds from companies from those 195 countries? I mean,
These are the basics and it's amazing how job sites don't understand that. Then there's the job matching aspect with only 4000 jobs in your database. That's not even a snack for a large language model. You need data, data, data, data. So last week you guys talked about MediaHouse investing in Germany's work hero and it sounded like a very smart vertical stack investment. But this MediaHouse investment
has me scratching my head because they're obviously not getting the basics right. So for me, this is an easy sell.
Joel (26:57.444)
All right. Yeah, I love, I didn't see the 10 years in business. So this is going to be even worse for them than beforehand. Look, historically these sort of niche businesses where we do good are perfectly fine, frozen, frozen yogurt shops, but they're not companies that should be getting millions of dollars in investment. Like these guys have, it's very, it's very Scandinavian to me. it's very feel good. It's very do good.
Lieven (27:22.99)
very, it's very Scandinavian to me. It's very feel good, it's very do good. Maybe the American in me is just so afraid from all that notion is that if you don't make money, what's the point? They're clearly not making money on the job postings. your business where you have charities, post jobs.
Joel (27:27.428)
maybe the, American in me is just so, just so, you know, frayed from, from all that notion is that if you don't make money, what's the point. They're clearly not making money, on the job postings. Look, your business where you have charities post jobs, you know, who doesn't have money. Charities. The only thing worse than charities might be small businesses, but like, unless there might be five charities in the world that have a lot of money. Most charities are just scraping by.
And to think that you're going to make a business out of charities giving you money is just incredibly ridiculous to me. Again, this is a niche site. Maybe it's a $500 ,000 to a million dollars a year business. It should not be getting venture capital. For me, this is a big sell as well.
Lieven (28:15.578)
Ha
Chad Sowash (28:20.824)
Good day, sir!
Joel (28:23.842)
Alright, Mr. Media House, what you got?
Lieven (28:29.594)
I agree they only have like 1 million people listed on their platform and they aim at 1 billion, which is quite a big growth. But LinkedIn already has 1 billion, over 1 billion. And I don't really see the difference between their platform and the LinkedIn platform. Only that LinkedIn might be still be a bit better if you want to go through the profiles. But what Shad said about only 4 ,000 jobs, I agree it's nothing at all on a global scale. But when you look at the jobs, they have great jobs.
They have some jobs at United Nation. They have some jobs out and those jobs are open to all kinds of, a very diverse public. So the whole idea is big corporations feel they need more diversity and it's such a hassle to find those diverse people, think. So they gather them all on one platform where you can hire a nice selection. It sounds really cynical, but it's like they presented a few people of color, some disabled person, maybe one or two Republicans and then
You can claim we have a diverse group. But on their site, I checked it. said, if we cannot deliver a diverse list of qualified Candidate Store clients, we do not charge for our services. So they really provide you a list with a diverse group. You can choose. Do we have already a transgender? No, they have one. You can hire one. That's basically the idea.
Chad Sowash (29:29.784)
you
Lieven (29:55.254)
And maybe if you look at their clients, there's a market for it. And it will only grow because of companies getting more and more politically correct. And now I would like to ask you a question. I've been thinking about this today. They say in the US people of color, but where does it come from? I mean, you don't say people of intellect or people of speed. No, you say fast people, say intelligent people, but where does people of color come from? Because now in Belgium and Dutch they translated it and all the newspapers are talking about
Mensen van kleur, which sounds grammatically completely wrong to me in Dutch, but it's an exact translation from people of color. So explain to me, is it a political correcting? Is it better than saying colored people?
Chad Sowash (30:37.906)
Yes. And again, we go through cycles of what is the better terminology and what's not. At the end of the day, we go figure, the white population in the US, much like in Europe, is the major portion of the population. That's changing dramatically.
Lieven (30:39.023)
And why?
Joel (30:46.116)
Mm -hmm.
Lieven (30:46.351)
Hmm?
Chad Sowash (31:01.886)
And it has, and we are a melting pot in the United States. So to be able to talk about all the different types of individuals, brown people, black people, et cetera, et cetera, we just said people of color instead of white people, right? And that was really the big distinction for the U .S. It was to be able to group all of those individuals who are not those white people.
Lieven (31:25.144)
And why people of color are not colored people? Is it a semantics thing? it?
Joel (31:29.686)
It's, it's a rate calling someone colored is, is, is a rate has a racist undertone. So back in the day when you had separate water fountains, people sat on the bus in certain places, it was like coloreds whites and coloreds, I think. So it has a negative connotation. Whereas people of color is much more politically correct. And a lot of this just changes with the time. My grandmother said colored up until the day she died and it wasn't.
Chad Sowash (31:30.282)
It's you're good.
Lieven (31:41.146)
Okay.
Chad Sowash (31:46.572)
Yeah.
very.
Lieven (31:52.61)
neutral.
Joel (31:58.348)
negative for her. So we progress out of these sort of stereotypes and languages that, at the time were very negative, right? When you had a separate water fountain, that's a negative connotation. Historically, we need to get rid of that and calling it colored is a way to do that. So we changed that to make it, make it progress to hopefully a more perfect union here in America.
Chad Sowash (32:11.638)
yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Lieven (32:20.192)
Okay, because... Okay, I see, because for a non -native speaker like myself, that makes sense. Why do you say people of color and not people of intellect, of intelligence? But I get it now. Okay, makes sense.
Joel (32:30.018)
Yeah. And, and also think to Chad's point, you know, we used to put people in boxes like they're black, they're this, they're that, and more and more people are procreating that are separate colors. So like, we can't really just say black or this or that. So people of color includes everybody, no matter what their parents look like. So I think it's progressing toward, yeah, Kamala Harris.
Lieven (32:48.6)
Hmm.
Chad Sowash (32:52.398)
Kamala Harris, Kamala Harris, her mom is Indian and dad from Jamaica, so he's black. So she is multiracial, whether Trump understands that a person can be more than one color or one race or not, she's multiracial. And that is what we're starting to see, which is scaring the shit out of lot of white people, a lot of rich white people in the US, because they're going to be the minority sometime soon.
Lieven (33:22.756)
But rich people have always been a minority. You get used to it. It's not a problem.
Chad Sowash (33:28.366)
Yeah, but not in this way. Not this way.
Lieven (33:29.496)
I know, I know, think even rich people should... Yes, yes, yes.
Joel (33:31.332)
Getting back to Impact Pull even, was that a buy or a sell?
Chad Sowash (33:34.732)
Yes.
Joel (33:39.566)
Sound like a bye to me.
Lieven (33:40.61)
I yes, but not a really enthusiastic one, but I think I would invest some money in it. I think it could be a good investment.
Joel (33:48.249)
Okay.
Joel (33:54.244)
All right, that is a bye from Leaven. Let's go to Milan based AlgoJob. They've just raised 2 million euros using AI for personnel management. AlgoJob aims to expand its AI driven interview tool and eventually enter, wait for it, the metaverse. The first product from its AI suite is called Algo Interview, which allows users to analyze candidates hard and soft skills during the pre -screening phase. Leaven, are you a buyer sell on
AlgoJob.
Lieven (34:27.518)
First of all you have to check who else will be investing in Algo Job. If you read the press release they said two sons of two very known persons. The first one was the son of Silvio Berlusconi, Luigi Berlusconi. I'm not sure if it rings a bell to you American bumpkins but Berlusconi was a big big name. He was the prime minister of Italy for quite some time and
Joel (34:47.182)
Nope. Nothin'.
Chad Sowash (34:47.661)
Yeah.
Lieven (34:53.976)
I mean, if you say scandal, you say Silvio Berlusconi. was not a few scandals. His whole career was one big list of scandals. Enormous. If you go to Wikipedia, I just checked to freshen up. So they say trials and allegations involving Silvio Berlusconi, who, by the way, passed away last year, have been extensive and include abuse of office, bribery and corruption of police officers, judges and politicians, collusion, defamation.
Chad Sowash (35:08.044)
Mm
Lieven (35:23.574)
embezzlement, extortion, false accounting, supporting mafia, money laundering, perjury, tax fraud, underage prostitution, and it goes on. Okay, did he go to trial? Constantly. He was always, the judge said he was guilty, but then he went to higher appeal and apparently he knew some people there and then he always was liberated or he went a free man. So he stayed prime minister for quite a long time.
And the guy was famous for his bunga bunga parties. So that's the living bunga bunga gavanibineusen. Those were sex parties. And I'm totally OK with sex parties. But at a certain moment, they also started including underage people. then we had to not call anymore. So but bunga bunga parties, he was famous for it. And all kinds of famous people were invited with bunga bunga parties. And it's a perfect moment to start.
Chad Sowash (36:09.526)
Not cool. Yeah.
Joel (36:10.225)
no.
Lieven (36:22.668)
Afterwards, you can use the information. So anyways, you can't blame a young entrepreneur for his forward mistakes. But just to give you an idea, he's extremely rich. He was one of the richest persons in Italy, and that says a lot. And his son now is investing in our industry, which always is a good thing. So I'm hoping he's going to bring the clean version of the Bunga Bunga back, Bunga Bunga and HR. But if you look at what he's actually investing in, what's the idea?
Chad Sowash (36:25.027)
You
Lieven (36:53.755)
Let me check. So the name is Algo Interviews. Okay, it's pretty clear. mean, algorithm and interviews, it's shortened as AI. That's a good name. And they focus on pre -screening and a lot of other stuff. Just to be short on this, I do believe what they offer is a good thing. I think there is a need for it. And I also believe that I can...
create something like that with a custom GPT in 15 minutes. Give me 30 minutes if I need to do it very good. The only thing they created so far is a shell, a very nice looking shell, by the way, on top of something really easy. So nothing spectacular so far. They're going to integrate this with some very popular tools, some virtual meeting tools like Teams, like Zoom, et cetera. And then they'll be able to do some kind of a
an extraction of soft skills and hard skills after an interview. These are things we already have at House of HR. This is something we developed two years ago. This is not new. And I'm sure hundreds of companies are developing similar things. They might be the best in it, and then it's probably a good investment. But I think at some point, given the background their investors have,
They will be bought by a major company, so it definitely will be a good investment and only for that reason for me it would be a buy.
Lieven (38:21.614)
Bunga bunga.
Joel (38:22.628)
Bunga bunga, Chad.
Lieven (38:24.974)
Bunga bunga bye.
Chad Sowash (38:27.842)
Yeah, I don't know about the Bunga Bunga, but I do know that Italy is the third largest economy in the EU. And for success, to be able to build to new markets, bigger markets, they'd have to get into number one, Germany, number two, France, or maybe even number four, Spain, because those countries all speak different languages.
Right. And we've talked about how hard it is to be able to penetrate different economies when you don't understand the culture or they just hold their culture so close, which is which is great. But you have to understand go to market's going to be entirely different to be able to have the promise of analyzing all your candidate skills and just a few clicks. I think to me that just sounds like, you know, false advertising, hard skills.
soft skills, there are so many different things that you have to actually dig into for those. That's hard. The end of this was the metaverse for me. As they pushed that out there, they were talking about all these big things, which I understand, I enjoy. If they're going to do this, they should be doing it in English.
period. I hate to be biased, but they have they should be doing it in English and going for the bigger markets. They're not and then they throw in the metaverse. I mean, this is sorry, Nicolo. mean, kids for my math is only 24 years old. So, you know, big applause for him to be able to get the cash to be able to go into business to be able to try to take on something this big. But you need some better advisors, my friend. It's a sell for me.
Joel (40:24.62)
Yeah, I literally didn't write any comments on this because it was just so juicy. Italy may be a big economy, but it's also not growing very much. Leaving the context of this dude was the son of a playboy from back in the day, tells me he's got money. He's probably got to throw some around to make himself feel cool.
Lieven (40:25.87)
Yeah, I literally didn't write any comments on this because it was just so juicy.
Lieven (40:47.576)
Yeah, and we are talking about billionaire kind of money and not just a million, really, really, really rich.
Joel (40:50.852)
Sure. All right. So couch couch cushion money. We're talking about 2 million euros. Not bad applause for that. Like, cool, man. But I bet if you dig into this, this kid knows somebody who knows that like there's some degree of connectivity there that has this check in their bank account. you mentioned the English Chad I had, cause one of the things that's tough about this podcast is a lot of the, a lot of the sites are not in English. Just about all of them have a little translation drop down.
the translation dropdown of this is at the footer of the site. So it's almost like we don't want your money, English speaking businesses. So anyway, you had to like jump through hoops.
Chad Sowash (41:21.89)
the bottom.
Yes!
Chad Sowash (41:32.152)
Well, and Chrome didn't even do it, because Chrome usually does automatically and it didn't. Yes.
Joel (41:34.902)
Either did Safari. Yeah. Yeah. So, so damn. yeah, they're closed for business for the most part. other companies that are well -funded, well -known are doing this stuff already. No one is doing metaverse cause it's pretty dumb unless you're training physicians or really high skilled stuff. Like metaverse stuff is on, that is on the back burner for everybody.
Chad Sowash (41:42.093)
basics.
Joel (42:02.57)
So many reasons to hate this company. So I'm not going to waste any more time. It is a
Excel from me. Let's go to our next contestant. sorry.
Lieven (42:10.678)
But, but, but...
Chad Sowash (42:15.352)
Yes, go ahead. Leaven's got something.
Lieven (42:15.755)
Sorry, one thing, one thing. If I go to their website, I'll go interview. I got it in plain English immediately. So I'm not sure why you English speaking people get it in different language, but me, I got it in English. Perfect. And it's even decent English. Yeah, of course. But for me, could even, it could have been French, for example. But no, I got it in English. Perfect English immediately. Weird. Okay. Anyways, go on, please.
Chad Sowash (42:27.522)
Yeah, no kidding. We're the ones who should be getting it in English.
Chad Sowash (42:38.806)
You
Joel (42:44.142)
All right. Our next contestant on buyer sell, Rockstart and an angel. That's an investment arm have invested an undisclosed amount in via current, an Estonian startup that provides employees with early wage access and financial education, aiming to enhance financial wellness throughout Europe. Chad, are you a buyer sell on via current?
Chad Sowash (43:07.832)
So here's a quick quote, employees can download the Viacurrent app and access a portion of their earned wages instantly for a small flat fee. End quote. No, no, fucking no. It's basically a payday loan within an app. Don't nickel and dime employees who need their fucking money.
You can charge a goddamn employer. There are different ways of doing that. You don't charge the actual people who need the money. do you anyway? Plus, I'm not a fan of this model because Viacurrent has to float up to 50 % of the employees wages. This is not coming from the employers via Viacurrent has to float that money. Remember when SBF happened in Rippling had to take another 500 million just to ensure they could cover paydays within their system?
Viacurrent is no rippling and I am never a fan of payday loans. This is a full strikeout buy or sell from me, sell, sell, sell.
Joel (44:12.738)
All right. the, the daily pay trend is hot. Chad, we've, we've interviewed the CEO of Claire. That's I'm getting to that. So like this, this, so whenever there's a trend, businesses start popping up that want to be associated with that wave of success. Now, as Chad has so eloquently, put it, this feels like
Chad Sowash (44:21.954)
But it's not daily pay though.
Lieven (44:22.276)
So whenever there's a trend, businesses start popping up that want to be associated with that success. because Chad is so eloquent, he's like, hey, we're Daily Pay, hey, we're Claire, but we're not.
Chad Sowash (44:26.518)
Not the same, not the same.
Joel (44:41.976)
Hey, we're daily pay. Hey, we're Claire, but we're not. it's, this is really, it's just sad because somebody will come along and acquire this company for a lot of money. And it's because they're part of this wave of daily pay and the phenomenon. But, yeah, this thing just has bad ladders vibe mojo written all over it. and for that, for that, I'm also a cell on via or via.
current.
Chad Sowash (45:16.834)
Ladders Mojo.
Lieven (45:16.845)
you
Joel (45:18.85)
Ladders, vibes, get the heebie jeebies. All right, leaving follow that one, man. Follow that one. Good luck.
Lieven (45:19.108)
Hmm.
Lieven (45:27.935)
I think the only good thing about it is that it's Estonian. I like Estonia. But there it ends. claim to be an employee financial wellness platform. mean, BRK. Employee financial wellness. It sounds disgusting. And then they say, dedicated to empowering employees by providing real -time access to their earned wages. I mean, isn't that what you have a bank for the moment you have
your wages you have access to it and then if you need them upfront you have a credit card and there it ends. I don't think a company should make money on giving the people what they've worked for before payday. Years ago and I think it was even this show we discussed a similar system and then I thought back then I thought it's a terrible idea and I still feel the same way so now someone in Estonia had the same terrible idea someone else had years ago
So that definitely is a big, sell to me.
Joel (46:29.572)
All right, guys, let's get to our final story and talk about lazy Belgians. That sounds pretty appealing to leave. I'm sure our Europeans working hard or hardly working. A new study shows Europeans work hours vary by country with the Balkans working the longest at over 40 hours per week. Those are also known as Americans by the way, while the Netherlands average.
Lieven (46:38.594)
Yeah. Yes, Joel, yes.
Joel (46:55.268)
32 hours per week at the low end. Agriculture, forestry, and fishery occupations lead in work hours across Europe. Chad, what stood out most to you from the recent study on how many hours Europeans are working?
Chad Sowash (47:11.926)
I think it's funny because we always joke about how lazy the French are and how they work. And they actually work longer hours than the Belgians, longer hours than the Germans, longer than the Austrians and Dutch. So it appears the French aren't lazy. Everybody else is just diverting the conversation away from their own damn laziness.
Lieven (47:33.754)
But they stop working at 62, so we have to take that into account as well.
Chad Sowash (47:36.814)
That's good for them.
Lieven (47:40.653)
Joel (47:42.094)
Leaven's very defensive, look at him.
Chad Sowash (47:44.552)
He acts like, again, he's diverting away from, they call him French lazy. And they actually work less than the French do.
Lieven (47:45.604)
Huh.
Joel (47:46.948)
Mm
Lieven (47:51.864)
No, everyone in Greece, French are lazy.
Chad Sowash (47:55.096)
Can't now, stats say that they work longer. Sorry, Leven.
Lieven (47:58.389)
But and 20 % of their time they're on strike. I mean, they're not working. It's not because they're spending time in the office that are actually working. Strike, they're on strike. la grève. well. Anyways, please go on.
Chad Sowash (48:05.355)
Must be doing overtime or something, I don't know.
Joel (48:07.844)
So it's.
Joel (48:11.3)
So what stood out to me, so Portugal, Portuguese, they're working 38 hours, which is on the high end of that area, which means there's too many Americans and Brits living there now that everyone has to service all of their demands and refills of margaritas on the beach. The other thing was that Belgians work more than the Germans. Like the Germans in terms of branding, we all think they're engineers
burning the midnight oil, like the fact that Belgium, Belgians are working where the Germans I thought was, was a noteworthy, keep your eye on Turkey. Turkey has great demographics. They're working very hard now. 20 % of their, of their economy is agriculture, which probably isn't good. And then, and then on the other end, poor Greece, holy shit, Greece, the government is introducing six day work weeks for certain industries. So the Greek.
number is about to go up as well. So a lot of interesting stuff going on in Europe in terms of hours worked. Leave in your thoughts.
Lieven (49:18.572)
You do remember, I hope, Greece went bankrupt a few years ago, that people hadn't paid any taxes for tens of years and nobody cared to make them pay for them. They totally corrupted their country.
Joel (49:21.838)
Mm -hmm.
Lieven (49:33.85)
And now with the EU, they have to pay for it. And now suddenly they have to make up for it. So I think that explains, because I can't imagine them being harder workers than the rest of Europe is. But it's really interesting if you look at that map. Eastern Europe is doing much more hours. And the more you go to the rich part of Europe, the less people seem to work, which also totally makes sense. And as think it was Chet who said, Turkey, 44 hours, yes. And it's an agricultural country.
Joel (49:34.862)
They gotta pay for it.
Chad Sowash (49:50.947)
Yes.
Chad Sowash (50:02.85)
Mm
Lieven (50:03.148)
those farmers, work from the moment the sun gets up until it goes down. It's a very hard life. So it's just a different way. But I just can't imagine people in France working harder than people in Belgium.
Chad Sowash (50:17.422)
And Americans, by the way, are 36 .4 hours. So just so that we know the stats on all of that.
Joel (50:22.796)
Lies, lies, lies, lies, Speaking of Greece guys, who wants a dad joke?
Lieven (50:25.108)
Nice!
Okay
Chad Sowash (50:32.775)
good god.
Joel (50:35.854)
Who is the Greek God of children's books?
Lieven (50:36.332)
Yes.
Joel (50:41.454)
Who is the Greek god of children's books?
Lieven (50:45.912)
No idea.
Joel (50:48.782)
Dr. Zeus, get it? Zeus, Zeus?
Lieven (50:52.94)
Dr. Zeus, get it? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And yeah, yeah, I was thinking the same. Actually, Dr. Zeus has written some great books, by the way. I love him. Yeah, yeah. We We out.
Chad Sowash (50:53.816)
that could have gone many bad ways. I'm glad I didn't.
Joel (51:01.901)
And with that.
Joel (51:05.924)
Dr. Zeus, we out.
Chad Sowash (51:07.854)
Out.
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