- Very nice to be part of this, Shark Tank fan and an entrepreneurial daughter who grew up watching Shark Tank, so, thank you for your participation in it.

So the question actually, I brainstormed with my daughter, what should I ask.

Two questions, connected.

In Shark Tank, which is one investment, which was very, super rewarding, and, which was the investment that you did not, take on, but regretted later on?

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

I'll start with regrets because I'm really good at regrets.

I don't know if it's my Mexican Jewish nature or what, but I'm really good at answering where I fail.

In my first season, which was season 11, there was this product that had, that was we're gonna remove plastic from the shelves by selling you, I wish I could remember the name, but they were selling you these little pills that effervesce, and they would create their formula for you to wash the dishes, so that you're not buying all of those plastic things.

They give you the plastic once and then they give you the pills.

And I had this theory that I need to, because I'm so special, I need to get a significant enough amount of the company to justify my time coaching them.

And Mr.

Wonderful undercut me and he did it for a smaller percentage with a royalty, and they went with him, and the entrepreneurs are fantastic.

They really are very impressive.

It's a southeast Asian man and an Asian woman.

- [Evan] Was it a big success?

- I think they're doing pretty well.

- Yeah.

- I think they're pretty well, but for me, the ones that I can think of that give me the most joy are, the people that are, doing something with my advice and, and growing and being able to do something.

So, John and Rachel Demin from Yellow Leaf Hammocks.

When I told my wife that I invested a million dollars in a hammock company, she made me go sleep outside without a hammock.

- Without a hammock?

(audience laughing) - But they're doing very well, and they help provide jobs for an entire village.

They employ an entire village in Thailand and they're generating jobs in the United States, and they created something called the hammock throne, which if you don't have a place to place a hammock, you get the hammock throne with a hammock.

And it's just the way they design, it's just so comfortable.

I feel like I'm being cocooned like a baby.

And, and it's, but it's, it's them taking the advice and, running with it.

You're asking earlier about which shows which, why do Shark Tank and it's, I love helping entrepreneurs fulfill their dreams, same way others coached me and helped me.

- You're investing in people as much as you're investing in products or companies, aren't you?

- Yeah, ideally you have to do all three, right?

It has to be the right people, the right concept, and the right market.

But for me, the most important is the integrity of the people because life is too short, and if you get that one, one thing that you can always guarantee is that you cannot guarantee anything.

Like whatever the business journey's gonna be like this, right?

And so, you might as well be with people that you enjoy.

If you're gonna be in the trenches, you wanna be with people that you wanna be in the trenches with.

- [Evan] Yeah, good.

Other questions for Daniel?

Anybody else wanna come down?

- If not, I'll let Evan ask questions and you don't want.

(person in audience talking inaudibly) - Can you come down for the recording, we appreciate it.

- And then you patch it?

- Yeah.

- Am I allowed to ask them questions?

- I mean, you, sure.

Of course.

There are no rules here.

(audience laughing) Hi.

- I'm so delighted to listen to your story.

I didn't know about you before I came, and I'm curious as to how you maintain hope.

Sometimes I am just so, overwhelmed, with despair because I see things getting worse instead of getting better all around the world.

And coming from your experience and your father's experience, you've seen, a lot of that.

And so, I'm curious what it is that drives you the hope and to continue this journey.

- Yeah, the reason why I keep going and never give up and I get stuff done is that hope is never what fuels me, it's determination.

And the way I explain it is, there's a lot of reasons why I should be very sober and quote unquote pessimistic, but there's also plenty of reasons why I should be optimistic.

But for me, those are very secondary to being an actionist.

Like I'm not a pessimist or an optimist, I'm an actionist.

It's not whether the glass is half full or half empty, fill up the damn glass.

And that is the key to life.

And I'm working with some, some of this stuff is sensitive, so I can't get into it this moment, but I'm trying to help some, governments fix some stuff.

And when you peek inside and look how they're making the sauce, we can make a better sauce.

Like almost always, almost always, people are expecting somebody else to ride that white horse on the, the padassas, and fly and do it for them.

It doesn't exist.

We as citizens have the power, and with that power, the responsibility to do things better, and to be active and to be engaged.

And so, I think for me, early on, I guess I had a, a couple little successes, have the, self-confidence to believe that I can make a difference.

And for me, that that makes all the difference.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

Before we go to the next question, you said that there are things to be optimistic about and pessimistic about in the world.

We know what the ones to be pessimistic about are.

What are you optimistic about?

- Everybody in this room, every person that I talk to, every time, wherever I go, people get it.

People get it, that, our world is not moving in the direction we want it to go.

And there's this reservoir of goodwill and there are people just waiting for something to do.

I experienced this when we build the One Voice Movement, and I know we didn't make peace in the Middle East, but we helped, we were credited with bringing the Annapolis Peace Process back and we had a good ride and help engage with hundreds of thousands of Israeli and Palestinians in helping them give shape to what a model solution for the conflict would be.

And, I have, thousands of examples of how all of us joining forces and leaning in, just a little bit, and giving it a little bit.

And I'm not expecting people to give up their rest of their lives.

They should enjoy their grandkids, enjoy their kids, enjoy their coffee, but then after that we need to do something else.

- So your idea is that change is pos, something to be optimistic about is change is possible.

- It's not just possible, it's certain.

- And we are the ones who are the architects of that.

- Who are gonna do it, a hundred percent, without any doubt.

I'm a hundred percent convinced, but before we go to you sir, and you have the best beard, so, I can't wait to hear you talk.

- He's very optimistic about your beard.

(audience laughing) - But, the vast majority of people, depending how you measure it, 87 to 93%, maybe even higher, want to build bridges and to make this a better world and to bring light to the world, to elevate humanity.

The problem is, that even if it's tiny minority that have an extremist agenda that wants to deny the humanity of the other, extremists wake up in the morning and they think, how can I advance my cause?

And, ordinary citizens wake up in the morning and they're like, what can I have for breakfast?

And that's the disconnect.

And, I understand we all need to have a healthy, delicious breakfast, but after that we need to do our part because otherwise the agenda is gonna be hijacked by extremists or people with special interests.

- Good, sir?

- Everything you're discussing sort of fits.

You came to Austin and I've lived here for 50 years.

I'm part of that group that we went to school and our parents said, hey, time to come get a real job in Houston or Dallas.

I was like, nah, I think I'll stay.

And that was the best decisions we made, because it kept Austin the kind of creative and sort of place you've been describing.

And I think it's one of the best places to encourage people and show them, it's not that big a deal.

We really could all make a difference.

What do see, how would you pull that from Austin and spread it around?

- I do think that keeping Austin weird is part of the secret formula.

I think that, thinking outside the box, remember the four Cs?

Curiosity, compassion, courage, and creativity.

And creativity is that keep Austin weird part of it.

Curiosity is about, asking questions, learning from others, not assuming that you have all the answers.

Social media is feeding us this false sense that we have all the answers because it's reaffirming our beliefs all the time.

Curiosity is being confident enough to know that you don't know what everything.

Confident enough to know that the other side might have a valid perspective and trying to understand the other side, not because you want to give up on your values and on your side, but because you're gonna be stronger when you engage in that hardy debate.

So, curiosity is about wanting that debate, that hardy, respectful debate, so the best ideas emanate and so that we find a way forward.

Compassion is being able to put yourself on the shoes of somebody else so that you can understand where they're coming.

The courage to work across lines of difference, and creativity is about thinking outside the box, about making the pie bigger, about finding creative ways to work together.

And that's how you build, by following those four C's.

- Good.

All right, give Daniel Lubetzky a big hand.

Thank you very much for being here.

We'll see you again soon.

Take care.

(audience applauding) Good work.