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Founder's Story
How Tim Shea and Ez Blaine Are Using AI to Build Million-Dollar Brands: Super Vision Studio | S2 Ep. 153
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- [00:00]
Unknown Speaker
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- [00:33]
Daniel
Foreign welcome back to Founders Story. Today we have two guests. I always like to have two guests than just a one on one conversation. And that's why we have two partners here, Tim Shea and Ez Blaine. They're the founders of Supervision Studio. And you're doing something with AI and that's why I bring this up because you know, everyone has their perspective of AI, whether it's good, bad, changing the world for positive, maybe not, who knows. And I'm going to talk to you too because I'm curious about not only what you're doing with your fund, you're reimagining luxury streetwear and all the companies that will come about, but the impacts.
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Unknown Speaker
That you see AI is having with our society.
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Daniel
Before we dive so deep into this conversation because we're going to get deep today, I'm curious as to your stories. What was the spark for the two of you? Tim and as that you said I want to be an entrepreneur.
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Tim Shea
No, I appreciate that. Thank you Daniel. Thanks for having us on the show. So me personally, so I'm Tim Shea. I'm the founder and CEO of Supervision Studio. We are an AI driven venture studio focused on building future brands. So future brands, A couple of wrinkles to it. Basically we are co creating new brands from scratch with AI. We're co creating new brands that have some nuance or some new attribute that would not have been possible pre AI. So we're not interested in re like reverse engineering existing brands. Better, cheaper and faster. We're designing brands that could not have been possible pre AI. We recognize that AI creates new experiences, new ways of interacting with consumers, a whole slate of things. And so we're interested in sort of writing the future in that way. I've been an entrepreneur for, you know, 20 some odd years. After you've been an entrepreneur for long enough, they, I think they, they tattoo the letter E on your forehead. You get the scarlet letter and they don't let you in the big buildings anymore. They're like this guy's an entrepreneur, he's gonna go Change the world. So he go, go do your thing. So yeah, so that's my story.
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Ez Blaine
Oh Mad Tim, that makes me laugh. Nice to meet you everyone. Daniel, thank you for this. My name is EZ Blaine. I'm you know, co CCO and co founder of supervision and I'm excited to talk about AI with you. For me I've always been that, you know, I started that in graffiti art so my thing was like always a little bit left and a little bit sub and always looking to cut some corners. And to me that's, that's 100% where entrepreneurship lies. It lies in the idea of like let me get something done. And, and there's a big vision, a very kind of like focused vision and going to go and execute. And that's what I love about the entrepreneur. And you know, I've been in industry and advertising and creative industry for like 25 years but I've always been focused on even within it having that entrepreneurial mindset so we can get stuff done in efficient ways, find new ways to kind of do certain things. But also I've always had an eye for making stuff happen and always been doing projects and me and Tim have, we've got, we've got like 15 years of us doing a whole bunch of side projects and, and you know, I think this is must be like our sixth business that we've started but it's all about, you know, keeping it going. And entrepreneurship for me is kind of like where as an artist I feel most at home. Like when it's set in stone and it's very structured, I'm not comfortable. I like the ambiguity are like searching for something new and creating something super fresh.
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Daniel
Well, I think there's a lot of.
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Unknown Speaker
People that are entrepreneurs, I would say.
- [04:15]
Daniel
They find comfort in being uncomfortable or in the uncomfort. I'm curious. There's a lot of talks and now that you're a fund and you're obviously going to be funding other people and I'm sure you're going to want a return on that investment eventually. And as a fund, I'm curious. There's a lot of talks around the one person billion dollar company. It used to be you needed hundreds of employees to get to unicorn status or really high valuations. And now with AI you can have so many AI agents or the ability to have much less employees but drive significant larger amounts of revenue. How are you seeing this?
- [04:58]
Tim Shea
I love that, I love that. So, so one quick thing. So we are, we're going with a venture studio model so what we're doing is we are building incubating brands in house. We're spinning off brands ourselves, we're betting on ourselves. So we have a combination of technology capital and domain expertise and we're using that to fuel the inception of brand new brands that we spin off. I love your comment about AI agents and the sort of company of one. I think it was a gentleman from Sequoia that has a bunch of great quotes about this about like, look.
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Daniel
You.
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Tim Shea
Used to be 25 years ago, you would need $2 million to build a website, right? You need servers, you need people, you need designers, you need a whole bunch of things. You know, fast forward 20 some odd years, you need a really smart group of folks that know how to get things done. They've seen all the chess games played and they kind of see how things come together. And they can use AI agents who have been trained as certain types of Personas, right? CEO, cfo, cmo, VC customer. And you can feed them problems and you can give them, you know, an infinite compute space to sort of argue with each other about, you know, what to do and what options are. And I see that future in the sort of, you know, near to medium term where you can have AI agents figuring out a lot of really hard problems for you or at least where EZ and I can say, hey, AI agents, we're going to run to lunch real quick. Can you use this infinite compute space to debate a little bit? We'll be back in about an hour. We want to see a couple hundred options and we'll make some decisions that way. So we've kind of woven that idea into our DNA and are super excited about how this kind of like shakes out in the near future.
- [06:56]
Ez Blaine
Yeah, I think for me it's like we realize AI was rather than us talking about how it's going to destroy the world and you know, how it's going to attack in people's jobs and stuff. We were just like, listen, there's been so many shifts, you know, I'm 42, so I've seen, you know, black and white TVs, you know, CDs, records, mini discs, MP3, you know, downloading stuff, crack software. I've seen it all right? And so for me it was, it was another thing. And especially through when I kind of like was definitely honing my craft in the early 2000s, there was this idea of like, let's get stuff and let's tinker, right? Something new came out. We were tinkering in flash, we'd be tinkering in macromedia, we would DVDs were always just trying to push the boundaries, so it's the same thing. So for me, when we know we started talking about supervision and what we're trying to do is like this opportunity with AI is essentially like supercharging what we can do. Like back in the day, I would spend like 15 hours trying to figure out how to do code some CSS and it would take me two seconds. Now I'm building websites in framer in like 30 seconds. So for us it's like, now we're superhuman. And that's where kind of the supervision idea came from, is like, we're super charged. And I think for us it was really just about adopting that and it's being really bullish on it. Let's not be fearful. Let's take our head out the sands. Let's understand this technology is transformative and let's be in the first wave.
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Daniel
We really are like superhuman. I think we always think about chips in our brain is when we merge humans and machines. But you're right, as we've kind of already merged humans and machines. It's just we work together in a different way. I know you have new throne and I know you're disrupting and you're really first to market with things. I'm curious with the ability to come up with, like you said, Tim, like hundreds of ideas, how do you even choose one? I find like that's where I might, you know, I fall sometimes is like AI gives me 1000 ideas and then I can't even decide which one to go with. I'm like, it's almost like overload. Like unlimited possibilities are creating like overload of options. How did you say, you know what? This is what we want to move forward with this company and then how do you go from there?
- [09:20]
Tim Shea
Yeah, yeah. No, look, I think first of all, you're the smart person that knows which of the options are the right one. You're the smart one that knows which one to choose and then iterate on. And that's why I think that there's this misconception that AI fully replaces people. Right? Doesn't necessarily replace people. You can't just bolt a chat bot onto a website and expect, you know, magic to happen. I always think like, you know, what was the first thing you asked ChatGPT to do versus what you now know is possible? It's sort of laughable to think about, like, you know, well, I can't believe I was having it was going to write a book for me. I was going to write a screenplay, it was going to write an email. And now we know there's a bit of a learning curve to become a power user with these tools. Yeah, so we, we knew that the AI creates new dimensions for you to explore. So what we do is we tap these AI agents or the multi agent system that taps into these different business signals and it looks for what we call weak P and L models. So companies that have really thin margins or really poorly, traditionally poorly run industries where we know that AI can make.
- [10:39]
Unknown Speaker
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- [11:51]
Daniel
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Daniel
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- [12:44]
Daniel
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Unknown Speaker
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- [12:56]
Daniel
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- [13:00]
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- [14:29]
Tim Shea
Outsize difference we sort of put, put it through the gauntlet. We let it come up with different options and then we give some of those ideas a small amount of breathing room. We give it a small leash to see if it sprouts green shoots. And if it does, then we go full blown with it. Then if it really takes off, then we'll spin it off. We'll create its own corporation, we'll create its own operational leadership and let the thing go. But that's really the power of AI, multi agent AI is that it gives you the option to explore lots of compute space, pick ideas, try them and iterate really fast. And you know, we've kind of woven AI into all those processes, coming up with the brand ethos, the logo, the website, the socials, the viral marketing playbook, the product design, you know, really, really helps us move much, much faster.
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Daniel
So as I'm curious, from the creator's perspective, it seems like you're very creative and you've been a creator, not just creating, but you're also like you said you were into art many years ago and you've been big on the creative side. There's a huge discussion around, like, you know, the number one art chosen for a competition was AI generated. You know, is that legit art? Or if somebody uses AI to create something, like, what does that say about them being a creative or an artist? What are your thoughts there?
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Ez Blaine
It's a great question. I think a lot of people are kind of struggling with this, but, you know, you know, from my perspective, like when I would go in, I would go into like, you know, the London Graphic Design Center. It's like a store in London where you've got like pens and all types of stuff. And they would launch a new spray paint kit and be like, oh, that's dope. But I would, I would see a new, A new, A new, A spray paint and I'll pick it up and I'm going, buying that, or there's a new pen or krinks come out with a new, new tool or there's this new. Whatever it is. But I always saw it as a way to kind of further continue exploring. Right. So I think as artists, our nature is to kind of continue to explore our mediums, different mediums, and kind of search for something new and novel. And that's kind of like where I've always been. So to me, AI and the fact that it's weaving its way into society and different worlds that have been traditionally kind of been, you know, only, you know, done by hand, I think that's perfect because to me, the relationship is always just a bit about tools. Right. I was a massive fan. I still one of Joshua Davis. It was a. He was a computational designer, so he would use code to make art. And I think that's a very similar thing that that was shown in Momo, shown in different places. Right. And we, we appreciate it. You see some of the computational artists on, you know, your Apple screen, when he got the, the screen saver, people love that screen saver. That's computational art. So for me it was like, that's just another form and AI was just another tool. So when I hear the kind of, kind of elitist views of how it could be done, I'm like, let's not get so, like, let's not be so myopic with it. And let's understand that creativity, it knows no bounds. As we, as humans, we continue to expand our creativity and how we, how, how we use our, our minds to kind of create things. And those things that we could create are what we're supposed to do. I think innately, as Humans, we're supposed to be creating it. So when new tools come, it's AI now, who knows what it's going to be next? You know, some magic potions. Back in the day it was magic potions, like people putting herbs together and, you know, all that kind of stuff. They were probably seen the same way. So for me it's just like, let's not, let's not, let's not get so kind of structured. I can still appreciate something that's done by, fully by hand, but at the end of the day, that's gone through someone's eyes. They've researched that, they've looked at something and then they've kind of, they've created an output. Right. It's the same thing with me in AI, it's just doing it rapidly, it's just doing it really quickly. So your. You as an artist, I think it's about being curatorial, right? How making a decision on what you see that moves you and then you having the domain expertise to understand. Oh, I feel like that's also going to move someone else. So that's how, you know, we start to make decisions. When we see something, it's hot, it's hot. Sometimes it's like very kind of like quality. If you're like, oh no, that's, let's just go, I know what that is. I know people going to resonate with that. So there's, I think we're going to continue to have this relationship where machine and humans are always going to be interconnected. And as I said, we're just going to be supercharged. So I think everyone should just embrace it, man. It's time to go like that.
- [19:27]
Daniel
I can't wait for my humanoid that.
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Unknown Speaker
Can paint me a painting.
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Daniel
I feel like that's going to be very interesting. It's like new technology with old technology. I'm curious, in the future, the future of your company and your venture studio, what are, what other industries do you have? The clothing? What other industries are you looking at.
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Unknown Speaker
In terms of the future?
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Tim Shea
I think the, the world is our oyster in this regard. We chose to go after retail first. We thought retail would be the most challenging, the most analog business. But we've got our eyes on, you know, cpg, AI, design, food. We've got our eyes on print, we've got our eyes on entertainment content. We've got our eyes on technology. I mean, this, you know, these AI can build other AIs, right? I mean there's, there's, there's so much that we can do. So, yeah, we have no trepidations about how big we're going to go. But, yeah, we chose. We chose retail first. I think one of the hardest things when you're starting something brand new is that pitching right is really frustrating. It's hard when you have a vision. You can't really explain it, right. You have to kind of show it, you know. So as an. I kind of chatted in the beginning, we're like, all right, we got to go. Let's pick the hardest one first and let's show people what we're talking about. When we say, you know, it's really efficient and when we say it increases dimensionality, this is what we mean. We mean a luxury streetwear brand that is very considered and highbrow as opposed to a lot of the misconceptions about AI around it being, you know, it always regresses to the mediocre, it regresses to the silly. And, you know, as always, had a great way of putting it, this mantra of, like, you know, think about how we can show people a considered brand with a dazzling brand universe in a way that was not possible before.
- [21:24]
Ez Blaine
I think that's what it is. And I think even for me, like, as an artist, right, the page has always been, you know, explorable. Space and things is always that kind of next level of art. You know, you've got some of your sculptures in your background, right? You've got certain things in your house that three dimensional, like form is always kind of like coveted and looked at in a slight different way. So that's why we went with us with our sunglasses, because we knew that when people get in their hands and we tell the story, the lore, it's just totally different, right? So it goes beyond it feeling like this digital, very kind of ubiquitous thing. It's a tangible thing. And I think when we start explaining that to people and realizing, listen, let's get out of the theoretical. Here's. Here's what it is. These sunglasses were co created. Everything you see here was co created with AI it's just to us, it's. Oh, you see, people's eyes just light up and they get super intrigued. So that's kind of one thing I think about for us is why we kind of went with the luxury fashion approach.
- [22:28]
Daniel
No, it's very. I can't wait till it comes out. I can't wait to see it. I think we're running into this world of customization. Like, who knows how this is going to, you know, how this will even go in the future. And how that'll change. Like does every product look different because it's the product of you? I mean there's so many avenues. I imagine your venture studio could be busy for the next lifetime and things that you could come out and create. But if people want to get in touch with you and they want to find out more about these launches and everything that you're doing, how can they do that?
- [22:59]
Tim Shea
Absolutely. Check us out on supervision Studio. That's the studio's website. I would definitely encourage folks to check out New Throne. It's N E U T H r o n e.com so new throne.com sign up. We just launched a pair of these AI co created sunglasses. The sunglasses have a what we call a deep fake camouflage buried in them. So if you're wearing the sunglasses around town, someone takes your picture. The sunglasses hack AI systems and prevent AIs from being able to copy your face. And so we're sort of welcoming a new guard of creatives to come in and sort of opt out. Right. They're opting out and they're creating this sort of like new throne of their own. So go to new throne.com, put in your email address, be part of the squad. There's tons of stuff coming out. It's just the tip of the iceberg.
- [23:49]
Daniel
I'm trying to wrap my head around that. Like I got, I have to see it. Like you're saying some of this stuff I feel like is. It's almost like unbelievable. So you, you have to hold it in your hand. You have to see it to even understand it. It sounds amazing. I love that like this deep fake. That's a whole nother 30 minute conversation we can have, but we gotta do it. This has been great, Tim. And as I'm very excited to see, you know, the future of your, your venture studio and all this co creation with AI. I love how you even put that like co created with AI. I mean the future is like the possibilities are endless. People from any. The great thing is people from anywhere around the world can create even if they have like limited resources, which to me is like even more exciting. But thank you so much for joining us today on FounderStory 100%.
- [24:33]
Ez Blaine
Daniel, we had a great time. Thank you so much.
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Unknown Speaker
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