MM# 296 Are Tech Stocks Back? Bitcoin’s Recovery Test, & Top Stocks to Buy

Summary

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Market Mondays (EYL Network)

Episode: Are Tech Stocks Back? Bitcoin’s Recovery Test, & Top Stocks to Buy

Release Date: February 10, 2026
Hosts: Troy Millings, Rashad Bilal, Ian Dunlap

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the current volatility in tech and AI stocks, Bitcoin’s recent rollercoaster, and strategies to approach the market in 2026. The hosts also discuss whether the AI boom is a bubble, top stocks to buy, and provide hard-hitting trading and investing advice. The latter part features Harlem Chocolate Factory founder Jessica Spalding, spotlighting the realities of Black entrepreneurship and access to capital.

Tone: Candid, energetic, and educational with doses of humor and real talk.
Language: Authentic, community-focused, a mix of expert financial analysis and relatable storytelling.

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Table of Contents

1. Market Sentiment: AI vs. Software and Recent Pullbacks
2. Bitcoin’s Drop and Recovery: What’s Next?
3. Is the AI Boom a Bubble?
4. Trading Tips, Investor Mindset & Risk Management
5. Best Stocks to Buy Now (and Not to Buy)
6. Key Company Deep Dives
   • Microsoft
   • AMD
   • Micron
   • Robinhood
7. Entrepreneur Story: Harlem Chocolate Factory & Access to Capital
8. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
9. Timestamps for Main Segments

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<a name="market-sentiment"></a>

1. Market Sentiment: AI vs. Software and Recent Pullbacks

• AI stocks are outpacing traditional software: Massive drops in legacy software companies as AI disrupts (“Figma down 85%, Trade Desk down 78%, Atlassian down 68%” — Ian Dunlap, [07:27]).

• Software not dead, but…: Industry leaders still see a space for software within the AI boom, but “right now is not the time” as investors reroute capital ([08:58]).

  • “The sentiment around it… is not in its favor right now.” — Rashad Bilal, [09:24]

• Tech giants recalibrating for AI: Winners are the handful of big players (Nvidia, Microsoft, Google), and those not swiftly adapting are losing market share.

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<a name="bitcoin-drop"></a>

2. Bitcoin’s Drop and Recovery: What’s Next?

• Market Recap: Bitcoin briefly fell ~$10,000 in a day, hitting ~$60k, then rebounded ([22:55]).

  • “Whenever you see something drop like that, there’s a few things that can happen. You got some group of people happy — it’s an opportunity. Some get greedy and wait for more downside. Some panic sell. And some stay on the sidelines forever.” — Troy Millings, [29:12]

• Strategic View:

  • Ian expects another pullback, potentially to the $65k level before a longer-term breakout into the $90-113k range by summer ([24:49], [26:23]).
    • “Wait to an area where there’s asymmetric risk, where you can’t lose — like that 60,063 level…”
  • Don’t panic sell or try to time every bounce. Think long-term.
  • You can buy fractional shares or via ETFs (BlackRock’s IBIT).

• Is a crash to $48k possible?

  • Not likely in the short term; would require a broader market slide of 20% or more ([31:32]).

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<a name="ai-bubble"></a>

3. Is the AI Boom a Bubble?

Debate Highlights:

• Troy: “Definitely a bubble in the broader AI space, especially among unprofitable startups and non-public companies.” ([34:31], [37:23])
  • Pulls data: 60% of VC money to AI, 70% of AI startups unprofitable, 90-95% of corporate AI projects fail ROI.
• Rashad: “Not a bubble for the leading companies (Microsoft, Nvidia, etc). There are bubbles within sectors, but overall AI is not a bubble — the max 7 are generating massive revenues.” ([35:35], [39:13])
• Ian: “I think we’re in a bubble outside the top 7–10 firms. Some companies benefited from AI hype without fundamentals.” ([39:47])

Conclusion:

• General agreement: AI boom is driving a bubble in lower-tier and startup space, while mega-caps are positioned to thrive.
  • “The Elite 10 or Elite 8 will be on the ark. No pun intended. And a lot will be washed out.” — Ian Dunlap, [40:43]

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<a name="trading-tips"></a>

4. Trading Tips, Investor Mindset & Risk Management

• Simplicity in Process:

  • “If you can’t look at the market with your setup and decide within 60 seconds where to get in, your process is too complicated. Make it simpler.” — Ian Dunlap, [14:21]

• Sizing Up:

  • “At some point, futures traders, you have to size up. You deserve to be rich, Rodrigo. Put more capital into things that will pay you well.” — Ian Dunlap, [15:59]

• Handling Volatility:

  • “We saw a 2% pullback in the Nasdaq… didn’t hear any panic. That’s discipline. That’s experience. Those who hold through the turmoil are rewarded.” — Rashad Bilal, [17:20]-[20:00]

• Emotional Discipline:

  • Analogies between turbulence on an airplane and market drawdowns: don’t jump out at every bump ([18:55]).
  • “The people who come in and say, I got 10,000 and then that goes to five and they’re like, I’m out — you’ve skipped some steps.” — Rashad Bilal, [17:39]
  • Learning to “hold through the turmoil,” and not let volatility chase you out of quality positions.

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<a name="stocks-to-buy"></a>

5. Best Stocks to Buy Now (and Not to Buy)

• No easy 10x under $20 equities:

  • Q: What are your top stocks under $20?
  • “I analyzed myself… There are none that I would put my money into.” — Ian Dunlap, [48:18], [49:18]
  • Rashad lists possible acquisition targets: Warner Bros Discovery, Lyft, Snap, Ford, Mercedes — but none he’d be excited to buy for growth.

• Focus on Quality:

  • “You only need four to six companies that you believe in, not 14-15 stocks.” — Ian Dunlap, [51:21]
  • Indexing, then concentrated conviction in a handful of winners.

Top 3 Long-Term Holdings (Ian’s picks):

1. Amgen
2. Eli Lilly
3. Google ([55:30])

Rashad/Troy highlights (if not limited to tech): Nvidia, Google, TSM, Tesla ([56:59]).

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<a name="deep-dives"></a>

6. Key Company Deep Dives

A. Microsoft ([68:41])

• Buy under $400?
  • Ian: Prefers $352 zone, but likes at $379 if you’re long-term.
  • Rashad: Drop is overblown, it’s a healthy pullback. Fundamentals strong, relationship with Anthropic offers AI insurance. Buy and hold recommended.

B. AMD ([73:40])

• Buy Zone:
  • Ian: Loves $194-195 area as entry, “by April we should be back at $250.”
  • Rashad: “The story hasn’t changed… Pullbacks are opportunities for new entry.”

C. Micron (MU) ([87:50])

• Short-term run?
  • Ian: “Any deep dip you have to buy it. If you’re not looking to hold for long term, you’re going to have deep regret in two or three years.”
  • Rashad: “Wouldn’t be surprised at a $500 or even $600 end of year target.”

D. Robinhood ([81:49])

• Generational buy?
  • Ian: Bullish long-term, especially for new/young investors. Not a pure bitcoin proxy but has exposure.
  • Rashad: Crafting brokerage for the next-gen investor, attention to user needs.
  • Both: Current pullback is more about broad economic sentiment than any Robinhood-specific weakness.

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<a name="entrepreneur-story"></a>

7. Entrepreneur Story: Harlem Chocolate Factory & Access to Capital ([91:10]-[117:26])

Guest: Jessica Spalding, founder of Harlem Chocolate Factory

• The story:

  • Built brand from nothing after winning a contest, finding quick traction — but hit a brick wall trying to scale due to lack of suitable production space and capital.
  • “More orders actually has put us in a worse financial position… You’re low-key drowning me.” — Jessica, [95:41]
  • Struggled to access funding while being used as the marketing face by government initiatives ([106:19]).
  • Turned to GoFundMe after repeated rejections and goalpost-moving by both public and private funders.
  • “I was on New York City’s fund finder… my face on there… but I couldn’t get funding — zero available.” — Jessica, [106:39]
  • Facing the real-life pain of cashflow gaps and the trade-offs between retail (labor, margins) vs. wholesale/partnership model.

• Lessons for entrepreneurs:

  • Consider true margins, scalability, and the difference between sales channels and business models.
  • Real entrepreneurship isn’t always pretty; the “success story” is often glossed over.

• Community Call to Action: Raising $50k (ideally $100k) to bridge to the next growth phase.

  • Contact/Support: Harlem Chocolate Factory, @harlemchocolatefactory IG

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<a name="notable-quotes"></a>

8. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On FOMO and sticking to your plan
  • “If you can’t look at the market and decide within 60 seconds where to get in, your process is too complicated.” — Ian Dunlap [14:21]
• On market discipline
  • “Stop closing your trades early… You have to hold through the turmoil.” — Ian, [19:43]
• On success and community
  • “When you make people money and you add value, they’ll be forever indebted to you.” — Rashad Bilal, [00:54]
• On the AI bubble
  • “Just the fact that Nvidia and Microsoft have been flat or ranging for a year, there are some signs that they’re trying to wash out. The Elite 10 will be on the ark. The rest will be washed out.” — Ian, [40:43]
• On entrepreneurship
  • “We confuse models with sales channels… If it requires you to operate differently, then it’s a different model and not just an additional sales channel.” — Jessica, [102:39]
• On Black female entrepreneurship
  • “We’re over-educated in degrees that don’t actually make money… My face has been used as a part of many campaigns, but if I go for funding, I get turned down.” — Jessica, [100:21]
• On giving back
  • “Sometimes in life you just got to do good — good things because it could potentially come back to you or maybe doesn’t come back to you, but it still helps people.” — Troy Millings, [120:37]

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<a name="timestamps"></a>

9. Timestamps for Key Segments

• Market News, AI vs. Software Drops: [07:19] – [13:42]
• Bitcoin’s Drop and Recovery: [22:03] – [33:02]
• AI Bubble Debate: [34:02] – [44:48]
• Trading Psychology & Risk: [14:21] – [20:59]
• Stock Picks (Long-term, $20-and-under): [48:02] – [55:30]
• Deep Dives:
  • Microsoft: [68:41] – [73:40]
  • AMD: [73:40] – [78:08]
  • Micron: [87:50] – [90:47]
  • Robinhood: [81:49] – [84:44]
• Entrepreneur Interview: Harlem Chocolate Factory: [91:10] – [117:26]
• Closing Reflection on Entrepreneurship & Giving Back: [117:31] – [121:55]

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This summary is designed for listeners who want to catch up on “Market Mondays” key themes, actionable insights, and the real-world impact of economic currents on investors and entrepreneurs alike. For more, connect with @earnyourleisure, @themasterinvestor, and @harlemchocolatefactory on social.

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Transcript

[Ian Dunlap]

With the American Express Platinum card, I.

[Commercial Narrator]

Can unlock experiences like no other.

[Ian Dunlap]

Since I'm always booking my next trip.

[Commercial Narrator]

I love that I can earn points on travel. Plus I get a resy benefit.

[Rashad Bilal]

So you know I'm hitting the restaurants everyone's talking about and you can find.

[Ian Dunlap]

Out your welcome offer after you apply.

[Commercial Narrator]

Which could be as high as 175,000 points.

[Commercial Narrator 2]

For experiences like no other, there's nothing like Platinum.

[Commercial Narrator]

Learn [e-mail] Explore Platinum Terms apply.

[Ian Dunlap]

For.

[Troy Millings]

Me, entrepreneurship has always been the way.

[Ian Dunlap]

Investing is important because it's the only way you are going to be able to get rich and wealthy for your family. We can close the wealth gap by working together.

[Troy Millings]

Market Monday is the biggest investment show ever.

[Ian Dunlap]

My life has literally changed since watching eyl.

[Rashad Bilal]

When you can make people money and you can add value, they're going to be forever indebted to you.

[Ian Dunlap]

I promise you this year I'm going to make y' all even more money.

[Rashad Bilal]

Disclaimer do your own research. Our content is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It's very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based on your own personal circumstances. You should take independent financial advice from a professional in connection with or independently research and verify any information that you find on our show and wish to rely upon whether for the purpose of making an investment decision or or otherwise. Let's build our knowledge, our community and our brokerage accounts. Love is love. Love is love.

[Troy Millings]

You.

[Ian Dunlap]

Happy Monday. We back, we back, we back, we back, we back. Oh, rumors are not true. We did not have a fight. We did not break up. I was sick. Thank y' all for the love.

[Rashad Bilal]

We back, we back in a major way, man. How you feeling?

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm blessed and highly favored. Shout out to the interview y' all did with Charlemagne to get it all in one lump, so. Oh, boy. Public service announcement. Ian Schwarzman and Charlamagne need you at Invest Fest to talk about the power of media. I'mma weaponize my relationships right now. Stephen A. Smith, Once you get off the Republican side, you can come back home. But Ian Schwarzman, my brother, and Char Charlemagne, my brother, need you at Invest Fest for this conversation on media.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, Charlemagne. You know we had Charlemagne last year. Epic conversation. We just did the episode. So yeah, definitely. Salute to Charlemagne. That was a lot of gems. If you haven't watched the episode yet, you should. You should check it out.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's a good one.

[Troy Millings]

A lot of gems. A lot of information on that one for sure, man.

[Rashad Bilal]

You know, the. When you get the text messages, it's like a week after you still getting the text messages. Like, we just got text messages, like, 10 minutes ago about it. It's one of those ones that at least at the bare minimum, has sparked conversation about what we can do, maybe some things we need to change to make situations better. So if. If a conversation can do that, then. Then you've hit the mark. You've hit the mark. It was a dope one.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, for sure. So we back this Thursday, 12. Well, blackout is Wednesday at 9:00 o'. Clock. Blackout, Wednesday, 9:00'.

[Ian Dunlap]

Clock.

[Troy Millings]

Troy pinched hit. Last week we had.

[Rashad Bilal]

Oh, man.

[Troy Millings]

First episode on Blackout.

[Rashad Bilal]

I got a lot of good points, man. I appreciate you allowing me to get some points out here. They were saying, oh, my God, I love how he loves his.

[Ian Dunlap]

And I can't wait to get there, but I'm not. So this Wednesday, right the other way. He'll be toxic before Valentine's Day.

[Rashad Bilal]

Oh, my God. Right in time for this week, man. I'm in. I'm in a good algorithm. I appreciate y'.

[Troy Millings]

All.

[Rashad Bilal]

Thank y' all for letting me get some stuff off. That was.

[Ian Dunlap]

I took some notes, though. I took some notes.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. So this week we back with the Valentine's Day edition of Blackout. We're gonna be talking about Super Bowl Bad Bunny. We're gonna be talking about Trump's racist video.

[Rashad Bilal]

Can we, like, have a moment of congratulations for Benito?

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. Shout out to Benito. Salute. And don't forget to get the book in Spanish.

[Rashad Bilal]

Do you have it not. It's at the other grip, man.

[Ian Dunlap]

Life, Flex.

[Troy Millings]

Casas, Mercia, Rico, Mercy. You deserve to be riches now. In Spanish.

[Ian Dunlap]

That's fine.

[Troy Millings]

All the Spanish speakers out there, all the. The Latinas. Salute.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

That was a big. That was a big episode. Big performance. So shout out to Bonito. Congratulations for sure.

[Rashad Bilal]

For sure.

[Ian Dunlap]

Appreciate all the Blackout.

[Rashad Bilal]

Say it again.

[Ian Dunlap]

A Dykeman tour. Just one week, different locations pop up.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, man, I. I talked about the forensic scientists on Wednesday, but like, the forensic scientists after the performance, I would much appreciate it. Obviously, we. The language barrier, but the sentimental value and the meaning behind all the things that I saw was like, all right, that's dope. I thought I even appreciated the performance even more.

[Ian Dunlap]

The performance was great. And for those who may not love the performance, I was walking in the studio, I said, yo, y' all Love the macaroni. 15 years ago. Just performed five years ago. What was all this? And the Kid Rock performance was not great for all the TP USAers that was not a great performance, by the way.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, Shakira had a guest by the name of Benito.

[Troy Millings]

What did she perform?

[Rashad Bilal]

Shout out to them.

[Troy Millings]

So, yeah, we got a lot. Thursday, 12 o', clock, we gotta earn your leisure episode Jazz Lavert. So he's interesting because he got the celebrity dog training business. He had a show on. He had a show on Netflix. And he's trained like Steph Curry. He's trained his dog. He's trained Kendrick. Kendrick Lamar dog.

[Rashad Bilal]

The Jenners. Yeah, everybody.

[Troy Millings]

He's a celebrity dog. There's always a way to make a dollar out here. For sure. He talked about, you know, actually coming up as celebrity dog trainer, best practices to train your dog, common mistakes that people make, funnel systems and different things of that nature. So, yeah, shout out to him, man. That's Thursday. And then also on Thursday, we'll be in D.C. capitol Hill tour. We got the mastermind for anybody that took advantage of that. The market Mondays, Black Friday. Deal. So we're going to be in dc. We're going to be talking to pretty high leadership, few members in the Congress. We're going to be talking to Congress and then mastermind session as far as presentation on stocks investing in artificial intelligence. So it's going to be dope all day. All day. Affair in. In the nation's capital. Um, man. Membership has its perks.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. Speaking of membership, this Sunday, stock club call. We didn't have one this past week celebrating Xander's birthday in the Super Bowl. But we will be back at Sunday at 9pm Central. If I've made you money, please put yes in chat. Let's have an amazing show.

[Troy Millings]

So let's get into it. What's the investment factor of the week? Investing. What's the investing factor?

[Ian Dunlap]

I have two really good ones. Number one, revolving credit, which includes credit cards, has jumped to 13.8 billion from 13.8 billion to 1.3 trillion, the highest since November of 2022. I keep saying this year reminds me a lot of 2022. This is the largest increase since 2023. And point number two, AI stocks are just destroying software from the highs. Figma's down 85%, Trade Desk is down 78, Atlassian is down 68, Rubrik is down 51, Core Weave is down 52, Iron is down 46, Astero Labs is down 35 and Palantir is down 35%. This is reminding me a lot of 2022. The cause is different, of course, but the drops that we're seeing this year are eerily similar to 2022. And we'll talk about it more later. But if you are investing into software companies, now is not the time. With AI being so aggressive and eating their moat.

[Rashad Bilal]

You left Salesforce out of there, man.

[Ian Dunlap]

I try not to be a bully all the time. You know, I'm a stop. You know? But, yes, they are down. AMD down 22%. Broadcom down 20%.

[Troy Millings]

20.

[Ian Dunlap]

Software as a service. I'm not saying it's dying, but the AI is a considerable threat to that entire category, for sure.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. I think the interesting point, amd, Broadcom, obviously, in the semiconductor space, the software space is interesting because when. And I think Jensen, when he spoke, he was doing a lot of speaking last week, partly because I feel like the super bowl is in Santa Clara and they're like, right there adjacent to it. So a lot of things are going on. But he kind of gave a vote of confidence for the software sector, because if you've ever heard him talk about his five layers of artificial intelligence, right? Like, there's. There's obviously the infrastructure, there's the applications, and who builds the applications? The software. So will software have its time? Yeah, it'll have its time. In fact, he said it almost feels like it's a ridiculous thought to think that software won't have a moment inside of AI. In fact, AI should help enhance it for the people who own it. I just think at this point, the sentiment around it, a lot of times people were like, well, what's happening, yo? The sentiment around it is not in its favor right now. If you're in these companies, yeah, it'll have a moment. It's just not this moment. But it definitely is a part of that 5 labor tier of infrastructure, scalability, all the energy, all those things that are needed to have this thing work. Application is there. It's. I think somebody was comparing it. We're having a conversation there, like. Like the Internet was something that was invented. Right. And Meta came, which was built as an application on top of it.

[Ian Dunlap]

On top of it.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yep, on top of it. And so we're still in the phase of building the AI infrastructure. The applications will come, the software will come. It's just an interesting time right now.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. But on top of that, we have to. Well, Jensen's doing a masterful job of not turning the market more negative than what he is. He's pretty much the president of all things chips, software, and tech right now. Because if you said software is screwed, the overall market would have slid probably 15%. Look at Spotify though two interesting comments. Jimmy Iovine said that he thinks that the industry is going to come in the next five years and then I was looking at my emails and Spotify is going to selling books. I say, okay, if you have a stranglehold in the music industry and you're getting the remaining 29% that universal and Warner let you get, why would you go to a completely different market? Well, if AI and the inclusion of AI is going to erode a lot of your business, it may be time to pivot. So I just thought it was an interesting fact that one of the biggest streaming services on earth is going to a completely different category that is outside of the normal category in which they're dominant in.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, I think you're, you're spot on in that analysis. I just had this conversation with some guys who were in the industry and they were saying the same thing when I was explaining to them capex spend versus revenue that's being brought in from it. And so that's, that's an issue for them. Right. How do they generate more revenue? And so you start thinking of different verticals that you do it that are not in the realm of what you're doing.

[Ian Dunlap]

Right.

[Rashad Bilal]

And so like that the book thing is. And that Jimmy, that was like a damning statement for everything that Jen said for sure.

[Ian Dunlap]

For it to come from him.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yes, to come from him is a damage statement for that. But when you start to see the tide turning when you see like a guy like what the Russell's done, shout out to the Russell. I know he had a hell of a weekend out in the Bay, but even with J. Cole did when he decided to put his the mixtape on even.

[Ian Dunlap]

Right.

[Rashad Bilal]

Which is like directly to consumer, directly back to me, you've cut out the Spotify, you've cut out Apple, you don't have to go through them in that sense. And if people follow that model. I know Meek is talking about, he's been talking about that a lot like how are we going to do this and be successful from an independent route now that the technology has advanced and it's actually here? Yeah, it's going to change the landscape a little bit. And so they have to figure out different ways to generate revenue.

[Ian Dunlap]

And the issue is that the Top half of 1% of artists are getting the lion's share of the money. So even in that, I'm not saying that it's a Ponzi, but the way it's structured, there's no equal weighted distribution of capital that's coming in. So Even the adjustment and going into the podcast space, which I don't know if the Rogan experiment worked out the best, but they've had a bunch of celebrity. Well, Ian and Charlemagne talked about it right on the great interview you guys did. That's a lot of capex spend there too, to get a certain level of attention. And I don't know if they gotten the return there. So I just think it's an interesting time for software and everyone is having to retool their business at one time.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, the perfect analogy that exactly how are we getting return on the span.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

Also, happy Black History Month, February. We're in it.

[Ian Dunlap]

Kudos to y' all for making black History. Be honest. Clap it over there.

[Troy Millings]

Black History every day.

[Ian Dunlap]

For real.

[Troy Millings]

Every day. So, you know, had to pay homage with this, the Black History color sweaters. But yes, Black History Month in full effect for those that have tried to suppress it.

[Rashad Bilal]

Every day.

[Troy Millings]

Still here.

[Rashad Bilal]

Let's make it you day.

[Troy Millings]

What's the trading tip of the week?

[Ian Dunlap]

I want to be very clear. I want to follow up from the one I gave last week. But, well, well, let me say this first. If you can't look at the market with your setup and decide within 60 seconds where to get in, your process is too complicated. Make it simpler. Point number two for my futures traders. I want you to have the courage that options traders have. Something pissed me off last week, and it's not the person who said it, but a person said, hey, the average person can't trade 23 contracts and futures. Most people can only trade one. And I'm like, if you. Look, this is one thing I love about the options community. Once they have conviction behind an investment, you guys are going all in. There's no one contract conversation with most people. And there are people who are just started maybe a year ago who are now trading 10 to 15 contracts. But I know futures traders that have been in for five years and they're still trading 2 to 3. At some point, you have to size up. And then Rashad will post A I got 1000% while getting a Jacuzzi. Then some of y' all get mad. At some point, futures traders, you have to size up. And another thing, I'm not talking to the average person. I'm talking to those who want to be exceptional. 23 contracts at 500 is not a lot of money in. It's 11 5. A lot of you are spending 11,500 on Van Cleef for this Valentine's Day. And come spring break, that girl's leaving you, you. I want you to put more capital into the things that will pay you well. And I want my futures traders to begin to have courage, chutzpah and balls like the options traders. It's a bunch of options traders who are less than three years in, who have made hundreds of thousands or millions. And you are on ninja or trading view, still trading for. You deserve to be rich, Rodrigo. Right? So I to the brother, thank you for the comment because it inspired this. But at some point you have to size up. At some point it has to go from a show to festival. That's a size up. At some point you have to go from. This is my zone of fear and I'm going to operate out of that zone to get to the actual financial level that I want to get to. So my second tip is I want futures traders to have the courage the options traders do.

[Rashad Bilal]

Amen. Yeah, I think what we saw last week was in, in addition to that, what we're seeing in traders, especially in our communities is the fear factor is gone. Like we, we saw a 2% pullback in the Nasdaq, right? We saw the Dow pullback and it was volatile last week. And I, I didn't hear, I'd heard, I didn't hear any chatter like, hey, I'm selling off my position or oh, I'm cutting my losses here.

[Ian Dunlap]

It was, I can't believe I got in. Yep.

[Rashad Bilal]

I can't believe I did this.

[Ian Dunlap]

It was elation.

[Rashad Bilal]

It was like, hey, it's on sale. Let's go grab the positions that we, we thought that we wanted that are now available. Right? We couldn't wait for these prices. Now they're here and a lot of people executed. And then you look at Friday and it's like, oh, this is why we had that discipline. This is why we put buy time. This is why we buy assets at depreciated prices and options contracts at depreciated prices. Because we know eventually if we're in a strong company and we have time on our side, it's usually going to work out in our favor. So, yeah, shout out to everybody that showed discipline last week. Everybody that had their seatbelt on and didn't take their seatbelt off, it was a roller coaster ride. But once you experience it and shout out to Chris Johnson, I was watching a post he put up about not skipping any steps, right? So when you had $1,000 in and the thousand went to 500, how did you feel? Right? You had that risk mitigation inside of that. Then you went up to 5,000 and that went down to three. And how'd you feel? You don't skip any steps. The people who come in and say, I got 10,000 and then that goes to five and they're like, I'm out of here. You've skipped some steps on that way, on that journey. Right. You learn a certain level of tolerance. You learn a certain level of financial discipline and emotional discipline when it comes to your finance. When comes to it, when you see that happen. So when it pulls back like it did last week and there's volatility like there was last week, there's not the same overreaction. There's not that same angst. It's not that same fear of like, I'm going to lose it all. It's like, okay, we've been here before, we've seen it before. How do we execute and be better?

[Ian Dunlap]

Which I think grow a tougher skin to it. Imagine if every time you're on a plane, you hit turbulence. You go to the front of the plane and then you jump out of the plane, but out of fear. That's what a lot of you are doing in your trading and investing journey. There's a certain level of thick skin is that you'll go through as a trader. Don't get me wrong, the drops are not fun if you are on the wrong side of them. But like you said, for the drops to happen, and we'll talk about Bitcoin in a bit and how it bounced off of that level, you have to hold your positions long enough to go through the turmoil to know how it's going to pan out. Stop closing your trades out early. A lot of you are getting in, panicking, closing out. And then I get the messages, hey, I know we bounce off this level. What do I get in now? I gave you the price.

[Rashad Bilal]

You.

[Ian Dunlap]

You would be. You would have been in profit within three hours. But you have to hold through the turmoil. Put it in chat. I have to hold through the turmoil.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. And I'm happy when it happens because people get to experience it. Some people get to experience for the first time, sometimes it's the fifth time, but you're experiencing it.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

And so now, once you experience it, now you have experience.

[Ian Dunlap]

Absolutely. And then you won't panic. And then you two could go build from scratch and make your dreams come true. Like the, the thing that's so dope even in you guys like to master media. And then, like, this is the crazy part, shoddy, you need to call me by the Straights no more. Yo, I'm good. That's dope to see. Like, yo, this price dropped to this level, man. We down 48. I know this has to shoot up. Great. Why are you. If you're in chat, if you've been here longer than two years, why are you not exercising the same discipline? This is probably the easiest the market has ever been due to corruption and certain levers being pushed in the market. For my futures traders, I'm begging you, have more balls in your trades. That Friday trade, some of you should have knocked out 40, 50 grand, but you closed too early.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, cojones. You gotta have some cojones out here. And with that being said, get your tickets to Invest Fest.

[Commercial Narrator 2]

Hey.

[Troy Millings]

August 7th through August 9th in Atlanta. You know, it's kind of crazy because you watch the super bowl every year and it's like, who's gonna be at the Super Bowl? Like, who's gonna be what teams are gonna play, but also who's gonna perform? That's like, people are looking forward to. Same way at Invest Fest, who's gonna. Who's gonna. We know that the usual suspects will be there. Earn your leisure. Ian Dunlap. 19 keys. You can pencil that in. But who's going to be? You know, we had Tyler Perry, we had Diddy. We had Steve Harvey pencil him in as well. He's a regular.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. Irregular icon. Still the regular.

[Troy Millings]

We have 50 Cent Classic. We have Magic Johnson Classic.

[Ian Dunlap]

Incredible.

[Troy Millings]

What will 26 bring?

[Ian Dunlap]

I got some text about it, so I can't say nothing.

[Troy Millings]

Y' all.

[Ian Dunlap]

Knew.

[Troy Millings]

But get your tickets investfest.com get your vendor booths. Get the vendor booth. That's important. All right. The moment we all been waiting for, bitcoin. So bitcoin. We talked about bitcoin on the Monday last week show. As far as it. It was a few things that led into the bitcoin conversation. The first, I put the post up on Instagram where was saying. I said last year that bitcoin follows historical patterns of four year cycles. And it was pretty much destined to fall this year. And then on the show you said bitcoin is going to fall to 63,000. And then it was kind of falling this whole week. And then Friday just kind of fell off. Was it Friday or Thursday? Thursday it fell off a cliff and it went. It felt like $10,000 in one day. Almost like it was. It almost reached. I think it reached 60,000.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, right there. Right before we got to 59.

[Ian Dunlap]

60,005.

[Troy Millings]

And then it shot back up. Now it's hovering around 6907-0700-0047-0000 currently. So it's, it's, it's, it's been. But my thing is this, on Thursday, when you see any quality asset that you, that you think is a quality asset, I think you have to buy at least some of it when it hits a 52 week low. So it hit only if it's a quality though. Yeah, quality.

[Ian Dunlap]

Well, as you listen. Yep.

[Troy Millings]

That's not to say that it can't go lower because it can. Any asset that's just not even speaking about bitcoin, it can. But if you see an asset down over 50% and it hits a 52 week low, I think you got to at least have some level of interest in it. So when you saw that 52 week low, I think anybody with any level of interest in bitcoin or any level of belief system in bitcoin, I think you had to be some level of excitement to say okay, this is an opportunity to put some money into this thing. And like I said, I mean not to say that it's only going to go up from here because that's not even how it traditionally has worked. But I think if something is down 50% and it hits a 52 week low, even if it still goes lower long term you're going to, you're going to make money. If you hold long term that's going to be difficult, I think not to make.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

So, all right, so is the bitcoin sell off, is the whole crypto with the whole crypto industry sold off? And like I said, it's some level of recovery. So bitcoin sell off still or recovery phase or what's the deal?

[Ian Dunlap]

Kudos to you who were able to get in. I appreciate you. If I made you money, please put yes in chat. I do think there's some more pain to come. I think it would be like a short deck cat bounce. I can see it going back above sailors average price of 78,76,868 and then coming back down. I think we'll hover around for this month and probably won't start to take off until March. One thing people have to realize, not for all firms, but for some firms, when the new money is coming in for clients, they don't usually start to deploy large chunks of that money until March. That's why if there's a recession, the tail end of March will give you indication how quickly the money is inflowing or outflowing. So while it was A good entry. I do think that we could pull back and I think we may retouch 65 and some change at some point this month. But I think we'll have a slow push up. It's a couple of factors too. The market right now is not safe. I just illustrated that AI is eating the software world apart and that's tying into some of the crypto world as well. Like you said, the four year cycle is really important. Another thing that we have talked about, but I don't think people are talking about enough, is the pressure that they're trying to put on Michael Saylor. So he's not at a point where he's going to be forced to liquidate at all. But I do think they're trying to make it harder for him to keep the fanfare that he has. And once again, as I said before, it reminds me a lot of the attack that Cathie Wood went under. So I think for this month we'll have another pullback. We'll eventually break out of that level though, around March or April, and then we will start to soar back into the 90s. And eventually by summertime, I think we'll be back to that other area that I called of 113 and we'll be good. But the big lesson here for a lot of investors, that Rashad said it without directly saying wait to an area where there's asymmetric risk, where you can't lose, like that 60,063 level, it's a historic price to be able to get in in a year you'll be elated, same as last April when we were screaming, hey, to get in. It's just going to take a little bit of time, maybe two or three months for it to pan out for you to be up 50 or 60% in your favor.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, there's a, there's a couple factors you touched on the text piece and traditionally we've seen bitcoin kind of trend the way that AI trade has trended. And so when we saw a pullback like we did Thursday, you saw a pullback in that as well. And then it was like, hey, the dollar sold a little bit of strength. And so that works against bitcoin's favor. But I think the other thing is that people actually trade bitcoin. And so when people trade, people have stop losses. Right. And so I think toward the end of January you saw some people come out of their positions, shorten their positions. It was like $3 billion of outward flow in bitcoin at the End of January, you saw a single day event of a liquidation of a billion dollars. When you start hitting some thresholds, right? People who bought it at 85 or 87 might have put that stop loss at 78, right? So you see that drop from. And I know we talked about. You just said it dropped like $10,000 in a day. Well, if it starts hitting that stop loss and people are pulling out and we start watching that forced liquidation.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

Oh, yeah, of course liquidation is going to happen. And people don't say, oh, there's a massive sale. Okay, I got to figure mines out. And it hit that 63 mark. It's crazy. I was on the phone with Alex. Good energy. Shout out to Alex. Good energy. We were talking about bitcoin. I'm like, I wouldn't, I was, I wouldn't be surprised if it hit 61 at some point. And he was like, wow. And I was telling the same things I'm saying right now. And then it hit it. And he was, I'm like, yo, this would be a good time, right? And a lot of people think, oh, it's 60,000. I need to have 60,000 to buy a bitcoin. I'm like, no, right? You, you, you buy what you can.

[Ian Dunlap]

You can decide what you can afford.

[Rashad Bilal]

If you got a hundred dollars, you can invest a hundred dollars, right? The percentage is going to be the percentage. If that goes up to, to a hundred thousand and you've made whatever percentage that is on your hundred dollars, if it's a, if you invest in the asset and you believe in the asset and you want to have some exposure to it, you can have a small allocation. You don't have to buy one bitcoin. Would it be nice to do that?

[Ian Dunlap]

Of course.

[Rashad Bilal]

But you don't have to. You can have fractional positions inside that. So just keep that in mind as well.

[Troy Millings]

Well, you can also buy the ETF Ibit. There's a few ETFs, but Ibit is the biggest one. BlackRock's ETF, which tracks Bitcoin but is on the stock market, gives you more. It gives you regulations and gives you certain security aspects that bitcoin does not have. So that's another way to get bitcoin exposure. If you don't want to invest in bitcoin directly. But yeah, a lot of people, I don't know what, what they did when they saw bitcoin drop. You know, whenever you see something drop like that, there's a few things that can happen. You got some group of people is Actually happy because they're like, okay, this is my opportunity. Some group of people get greedy and they say, okay, well 60 is going to 40, so I' ma wait. It might, it does. Sometimes in life it goes to 40. Sometimes in life it doesn't go to 40. But that's, that's one group of people. Then the third group of people panic sellers. They, they, they, they see they lost 50 of their money and they just panic and they just selling because they're like this thing is going to zero. And I just needed to, I need to get out while I still can. And then as soon as you sell it, it goes right back up again. And then the fourth group of people are just the people that stay on the sidelines forever because once they see this go to 60, they're like now this is definitely gonna go to zero now. And they just stay away from it. They just.

[Ian Dunlap]

And it's a lot of that. Wait, it's 20, it's going to 31. I'm like, yeah, why you got the.

[Rashad Bilal]

People who are still asking what bitcoin is. Right. Even that in that education process is still something that if you look at the ownership of how many people it's, it's a small amount of people. It's like it's still under 10.

[Ian Dunlap]

So it's a small private network.

[Rashad Bilal]

Well, some could look at it that way.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's satoshi a title or.

[Rashad Bilal]

It could be a conglomerate.

[Troy Millings]

It's an acronym.

[Ian Dunlap]

Okay.

[Troy Millings]

Do you do your rabbit hole search if you, if you want to figure that one out?

[Rashad Bilal]

Forensic scientist, we need you now.

[Troy Millings]

Acronym.

[Ian Dunlap]

Interesting.

[Rashad Bilal]

Let's stay out of trouble.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, for sure.

[Troy Millings]

Okay, let's talk about. Okay so before we leave this topic 48, does Bitcoin drop to $48,000?

[Ian Dunlap]

Not this month for sure. No. In order for a bitcoin to. Because the, the bitcoin of old that was not tied to the market ever since BlackRock got involved. It said this is a different animal. Going back to the satoshi title question.

[Rashad Bilal]

Right.

[Ian Dunlap]

The market would need to slide another probably 20% to get there. The great, the interesting part is software is being destroyed and Dow just hit an all time high today. So we would need to see the General Market slide 20% in order for that to happen. But I don't think that will happen this month by any stretch of the imagination.

[Troy Millings]

All right, let's talk about.

[Ian Dunlap]

But if it does fall to the 40s. The 40s, not the price to buy. I will say that tune in next week for the price. If it does go to there where to buy back to Tron Rashad.

[Troy Millings]

You said if it drops to 40 forties, not the price to buy because if it drops to 40 it's going to go to 20.

[Rashad Bilal]

We're going further than that. Okay, but that, that goes into that. If you look at the average drop down of Bitcoin in that cycle, right, we've seen 90 pullback, we've seen 75 pullback, we've seen 80 pullback.

[Troy Millings]

I think the average is 70.

[Rashad Bilal]

Well right now we're only at 50. So there's still, there's still some room.

[Troy Millings]

But then it also has been going less and less like it started.

[Rashad Bilal]

That's what I'm saying. We've seen 90.

[Ian Dunlap]

So the average is 20 reduction every four years. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Troy Millings]

So Nas NASDAQ pulled back heavy last week also same day. It was blood in the market. And we're going to talk about individual stocks like MU and A AMD but man, a lot of the stocks in Robin Hood. We're gonna talk about that later. But a lot of the tech stocks pulled back and this was done mainly because of like another deep SE moment. And partially, once again the fear of a AI bubble has, has come and that's something that's been talked about since last year and you know, fears of not properly having the value that revenue to match these valuations and not really fulfilling his potential. So that was a, that was a, that was a moment. A lot of the stocks fell pretty, pretty drastically. So was that a buying opportunity for the, for the NASDAQ tech stocks or was it an early warning of what's to come?

[Ian Dunlap]

Well, let's not skate over the point that you made. Do we think this is a bubble?

[Rashad Bilal]

No.

[Ian Dunlap]

If we're just going off of valuation potential return on CapEx spending outside of the big seven, do we think that Salesforce will emerge from the dead with the use of AI or companies in that B tier, C tier class?

[Rashad Bilal]

Which question should I answer first?

[Troy Millings]

Is it a bubble? I think that is definitely a bubble bubble.

[Rashad Bilal]

I don't.

[Troy Millings]

When will a bubble pop? Is a question.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yes.

[Troy Millings]

And even if a bub bubble is not necessarily a bad thing though because it's needed because you can't just be infl. It's a lot of companies have been inflated that don't deserve to be inflated. It's all based off of expectation and they don't have the revenue to justify. That's what bubbles, that's what causes a bubble. So if it just. If the bubble never pops, then it just becomes unsustainable.

[Ian Dunlap]

Right.

[Troy Millings]

Hold on.

[Ian Dunlap]

Can we fall apart anywhere? Go ahead.

[Rashad Bilal]

We got pause. Because I think that's the reason why it's not a bubble. Because it's not the revenues that's matching it. Every company is making money, right? Like if you look at every company, they beat on their revenue. Look at Microsoft that beat on their revenue.

[Troy Millings]

Well, let me. Because the big companies, right, you talking about the big companies when you're saying a bubble finish. Let me finish. When we say the. Hey guys, we saying the whole entire space. So there's companies that's not even publicly traded that are getting brought by VC firms for 20x more. That's what I'm saying. So it's like the whole entire space is chasing.

[Rashad Bilal]

What space are we talking about?

[Troy Millings]

AI. Anything that has AI attached to it. So Microsoft, Nvidia. Yeah, nobody thinks that those companies are not going to be here tomorrow. But the bubble is saying that a lot of people are riding a wave. And these are not even just publicly traded companies, just in general. The space has to come down.

[Ian Dunlap]

Let's go through ones.

[Rashad Bilal]

Before you go there, I just. Because when we say the entire space, any company that has AI is super generic.

[Troy Millings]

But that's what companies have attached themselves to.

[Rashad Bilal]

I agree with you. There are bubbles inside of technology for sure, in certain sectors in technology. But the overall theme of AI can't say it's a bubble because the revenue is not the issue. The capex spend we've seen is the issue.

[Ian Dunlap]

Right? Metaverse at scale for a lot of.

[Rashad Bilal]

These companies, the capex spend is because they can see the forward future potential of if they don't participate. Right? So when meta beats its earnings and has revenue, right? And they now figure out, oh, we can now make revenue off of that CapEx spend, you watch meta go up. We watch Google say, we've done all this, right? What happens to Google? They say Instead of spending 145 billion, we're spending 190. We watch the stock pull back. We saw the same thing with Amazon. Instead of spending 150 billion, yo, we're going to spend 200 billion. We watch that pullback. They're all making revenue. It's just that people are saying, is it going to be just. Is the cap X going to be justifiable with the amount you're spending? Can you generate it going forward? Your future earnings is what they're looking at. So they're making revenue now. Bubbles inside of it, for sure. Private, of course. We've seen that.

[Troy Millings]

Okay, so let's just, let's just go through the facts real quick. 60 of VC funding, 60 of VC funding is now going to AI. Even though most AI companies have little to no profit. That's a fact, like I said. You saying that yes, the celeb, the, the all star, we, we market Mondays, can start a company right now, if we're in Silicon Valley and come up with a thesis brand, have the right connections and say, okay, AI related and now we can raise $100 million. That's actually what's happening in real time.

[Rashad Bilal]

Who leads the market?

[Troy Millings]

70. Let me just finish. 70% of AI startups are unprofitable, mainly due to GPU, cloud and model costs. 70%. 70% of these companies are not profitable. That's not a sustainable model. 90 to 95% of corporate AI projects fail to deliver meaningful ROI. Right. And then you can, the list goes on.

[Rashad Bilal]

So that's, that's Chad gbt. I'm talking about. What I'm saying is coming from the actual facts of reports that these companies are all those companies.

[Troy Millings]

You saying reports? I'm not the space for a bubble to pop.

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm sick, my brothers.

[Troy Millings]

No, I'm saying.

[Rashad Bilal]

Can I go now? I, I allowed you to go now, right?

[Ian Dunlap]

I think to be clear, I'm talking about the ones outside of the top seven.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm not. So Broadcom is not a top seven.

[Troy Millings]

Still a top hundred, a 200 company.

[Rashad Bilal]

What I'm saying is, we're saying is.

[Troy Millings]

That there's a 100,000 companies.

[Rashad Bilal]

Can I finish? Is that okay if I finish?

[Troy Millings]

Ian, what's your thoughts?

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm asking if I can finish. We don't have to give.

[Ian Dunlap]

Can I just finish?

[Rashad Bilal]

Is that okay with you?

[Troy Millings]

Go ahead.

[Rashad Bilal]

When you're talking about startups, we're not talking about those companies don't lead the market. We can, we already know that those max 7 or that core 10 or whatever we want to call them. And you can include Lily inside there as well. And you can include some of these other companies that are leading in that AI space, that data center, build out space, those are leading the market. Of course there are going to be plenty of startups and we know that we're not going to get funded for that. And a lot of them are not going. So are there going to be bubbles inside of it? Of course. Is any AI a bubble? No. That's what I'm saying, Ian.

[Troy Millings]

Okay, that's your opinion. Ian, what's your thoughts?

[Ian Dunlap]

I think you guys are arguing two different points, but I Want to bring it home? Nvidia, Is AI technology going to go away? No. Do I think Oracle was overvalued because of it. Figma Trade desk. Super Shock. I love y' all as Super Micro. Super Micro had no reason to go up a thousand percent. Most people still can't name the CEO of Super Micro or one product that they have. So do I think this will be in phases? Absolutely. Do I think we're in a bubble? Absolutely. Like just the fact that Nvidia and Microsoft have been flat or ranging for a year, there are some signs that they're trying to wash out. It's like the Noah's Ark moment. Right. The Elite 10 or Elite 8 will be on the ark. No pun intended.

[Rashad Bilal]

Right.

[Ian Dunlap]

And a lot will be washed out. And now we're going to see phase two of the building. Right. And then phase three and maybe four or five years. AI as a whole, is it a bubble? No. But do we have some companies that should not have been up 500% because of AI? Absolutely, absolutely.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'll make this last point because I'm glad that you brought up the consolidation. So Microsoft has consolidated over the past two years, would you say?

[Ian Dunlap]

Definitely 18 months for sure. Yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

Okay. Nvidia has consolidated over the last year, would you say?

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep.

[Rashad Bilal]

How about Apple? I mean Amazon? Same thing, right?

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, same, same. Right, yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

The NASDAQ has hit an all time high this year with all that consolidation. Right. So that tells you that there's companies that are actually generating revenue and bringing in capital. Right. Or else the NASDAQ wouldn't move even when the Max 7 consolidate.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yes. But two things can also be true. I'm not like my, my stance is very clear. Do I think there's a bubble? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do I think some companies benefited from AI like Salesforce? I love Mark Benioff. I do. He can't sell me that. They were a leader in AI when they were turning down the meetings from Nvidia four years ago.

[Rashad Bilal]

Are you putting the death stamp on Salesforce?

[Ian Dunlap]

No, but I will also, I will also say this. If we, if all of us got a million dollars in today from Charlemagne to come with him at Netflix, none of us will put the money in the Salesforce first.

[Rashad Bilal]

No, no, that's fair.

[Ian Dunlap]

I can name 20 companies off the top of my head that would give me a better turn return than Salesforce. And I think they got comfortable and were behind the eight ball and reacted too slowly. And then other companies like Ayip Lilly came and fucking. How does A healthcare company come in and out. Tech you. And you're a tech company. That makes no sense to me, but I love Mark Benioff.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. I think it's the timer for them for sure. I think it's the time of the. Because it feels like AI should definitely what they do as an operational business.

[Ian Dunlap]

AI, it was like a perfect sense.

[Rashad Bilal]

Right, for them to be like the first adopters and they should see the most benefit. And that hasn't happened, but maybe it does happen. We'll see.

[Troy Millings]

So, okay, AI bubble. Two against one on that. We'll see what happens.

[Ian Dunlap]

We're a family. We're not ganging up on each other.

[Troy Millings]

No, no, I'm saying you think it's a bubble. I think it's a bubble. Troy doesn't think it's a bubble. Only time will tell. We'll see. We'll see what happens.

[Rashad Bilal]

Dan Ives doesn't say it's a bubble.

[Troy Millings]

The second part of the question is, is it the. Was that the opportunity to buy or was that a warning of what could potentially happen greater later for the nasdaq?

[Ian Dunlap]

I think it was a one and a half percent drop. Like, I think people were too. Don't get me wrong. From 25 down to 24 and some change, maybe scary. If you're new, that's not a real move. Down to the downside, like what we had a March of last year from 21 down to 16, 475. That's scary. That's a good opportunity to buy in. And the point that Troy's making, that I agree with, the greatest companies are retooling like Walmart. Walmart doesn't get talked enough about in this. Walmart is doing, in my opinion, a little bit of a better job than Amazon. They're quietly executing. Right. So the greatest companies in NASDAQ and Dow are recalibrating for this new era. So there's no need to have all this fear around what the market is going to do. But a one and a half percent, 2% drop?

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

What are you scared about? That's. That's a per. That's an intraday move. You shouldn't worry about that at all.

[Rashad Bilal]

It feels away when you don't have a plan. I think that's.

[Ian Dunlap]

Your turbulence is upsetting. Yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

Like, oh, my gosh. And I. And I'm only saying that because I've experienced that right. When, like, you didn't stick to the plan and it was like, you know what I said, I'm going to sell it at 100%, but it went up to 116. Maybe tomorrow it goes up to 140. Yeah. And then Thursday happens and you're now at 60 and you're like, damn, oh my gosh, what should I do now? I might as well just keep the 60 gain because it could go to 10 and maybe I won't have it. And so if you don't have the plan, then it gets a little tricky. But yeah, I mean, I would say it wasn't even. Was it worth panicking? No, it was interesting to watch. I think this is another consolidation. If we look at the index itself, if you go back six months, if you go back a year, it's been in between this 23,000. It's trying to get over 24,000. Like we've like real close, we haven't crossed it yet. And so like this is natural for it. This is like a natural process and it's almost a healthy thing to happen.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, 24, 300 is a good area to get in if you missed that.24420 is a good area to get in on NASDAQ if you're riding it to the upside. But all of this goes away if you hold for the long term. A lot of you are trying to take the advice that I give it and apply it to a one week option or one week swing trade. That's not what we're here for. But if you're here for amazing prices and want to know where to get in, go to Ian invest.com and join the Red Panda stock club. I've put out, I think this month, 75 stocks that all have three prices of what to enter. If I made you money, please put yes in chat. If you never want to have to guess about where to get in, where to get out, and don't want to have all this fear about where to invest. Come join the stock club. If I made you money, please put yes in chat and listen. The first time a 1.5% drop is nothing in comparison to what we could see later. And you get the news about where we're going to fall to damn near two or three months ahead.

[Rashad Bilal]

So yeah, that would worry some. A 10% correction with is going to.

[Ian Dunlap]

Give you a heart attack.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, I'm not sure what's going to happen.

[Ian Dunlap]

Like some of y' all gonna have a heart attack when I side knock on your door on 14.

[Rashad Bilal]

Easy, easy, easy.

[Ian Dunlap]

We'll talk about a Wednesday. Easy, easy. Stefan, you may have lost the game, but you won the war, my boy. You May have lost the game, but you won the war. Can't put his family on the front row.

[Rashad Bilal]

That's what this is all about.

[Ian Dunlap]

That's what this is all about. You knew.

[Rashad Bilal]

We can't even follow each other no more.

[Ian Dunlap]

Damn. That's crazy.

[Rashad Bilal]

Damn.

[Ian Dunlap]

But the breakup before the. Right before the Valentine's Day. Be a vibe, though.

[Troy Millings]

Save you money.

[Ian Dunlap]

Damn. For sure. I gotta go back and watch the episode from last week. Sure. I'm taking my notes. I'm trying to thank you.

[Rashad Bilal]

Appreciate that. Yes. Yes. Teach me how to love.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yes. This is entertainment. I'm healing and growing. Show me the way to.

[Troy Millings]

What'S the best stocks under $20?

[Ian Dunlap]

Oh, I love this question. And then after I left Xander's birthday party, I compiled an amazing list of 10 that I thought you got 10 that that would give you a great return. Oh, all of them. Okay. Write this down.

[Rashad Bilal]

Do it.

[Ian Dunlap]

None.

[Rashad Bilal]

Bro. You like? Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

It's not. It's not a stock. But XRP, that's under $10. That's on the. Yeah, that's on the. Definitely.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's a great long term investment. But as far as publicly traded equities, I went through the list. I went through GPT.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. I analyzed myself. There's even. Just from a warrant standpoint and pre IPO standpoint, like most people who are getting in may be getting in that 15 bucks or 20 bucks. So if you want something great at 20 or below, there's no volume in it and no one wants to buy it. I wish there was. I know. We want to recreate the palantir from 20 to 150 moment. There's not. They're an exception to the rule. There are none that I will put my money into. And I wish it was because I'm like, man, if this can go from 20 to 200, I look like an icon again, right? There are none. There are none.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm glad you said that because I was searching. I'm like, I got.

[Ian Dunlap]

You couldn't find one if you wanted to.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm not even saying that I would invest in these per se, but I'm looking at it from the standpoint of who might come buy them. What if we did that?

[Ian Dunlap]

Okay.

[Troy Millings]

What?

[Ian Dunlap]

An acquisition.

[Rashad Bilal]

Maybe this might be something that's worth an acquisition. So I got a list of like five.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's open on the list.

[Rashad Bilal]

So the first one, Warner Brothers Discovery.

[Ian Dunlap]

Okay.

[Rashad Bilal]

Which is a. I mean, we already.

[Ian Dunlap]

Know it's the acquisition target.

[Rashad Bilal]

Acquisition target. So that's under $20.

[Ian Dunlap]

Lift that 27 yeah, yeah. I like to be well overlift. So.

[Rashad Bilal]

I talked about this a few months.

[Ian Dunlap]

Ago or, or Tesla.

[Rashad Bilal]

That's the tricky part. They're not going to sell the Uber but a competitor that needs a. The technology of a ride sharing maybe you mentioned a company that makes a lot of sense.

[Ian Dunlap]

That.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, so that, that would be an interesting one. Snap. Like I said that, that social media that, that they have is still something that is worth. Somebody might find value in acquiring, adding to the portfolio.

[Commercial Narrator 2]

Ford.

[Rashad Bilal]

Legacy company. Not that just throwing it out there.

[Ian Dunlap]

I didn't say.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, I'm not saying I'm investing. I'm just saying these are under Mercedes. Now we talked about what they've done in terms of partnership and we actually firsthand saw their partnership that they announced with Nvidia. Could they, could they change the way autonomous luxury looks in the future? We don't know. I don't know. Interesting. But it's one that's under. After that I couldn't find anything.

[Ian Dunlap]

I really thought yeah, that was it.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, it's tough. And to the person who asked the question is too tech, too index to build confidence to then build into seven to eight stocks. No, you, you only need four good ones. If you rotate to six. Great. If you study any business though, even if you go to Google. Google has acquired hundreds of companies. Microsoft, hundreds of companies. There's usually four to six that drive 80% of the revenue. Just a behemoth is YouTube that we're on right now. It takes you a while to invest in a bunch to understand that you only need four. At some point you can replace the indexes and then just have concentration of four companies that you believe in and then you want to push to have 5 to 10,000 shares of each of that company. But no, you don't want to have eight, ideally like four to six as a sweet spot because then you can manage all of them properly, not have too much risk on the table, not have them conflict with each other. Some of you like will message me and be like hey, I got 16 stocks, what should I do? My first answer is always pick the four that you believe in. That would do well for the long term because it's really tough to manage. You have your own index at that point. There's no need to have 14 to 15 stocks. Then you can pour more capital into them on the drops like we had on Thursday and Friday.

[Troy Millings]

So you don't. So you don't believe in xrp. Let's get.

[Ian Dunlap]

I just said it's a good Investment long term.

[Troy Millings]

Would you invest. Would you invest in XRP?

[Ian Dunlap]

How much money? I have positions at XRP.

[Troy Millings]

Would you invest $10,000 in XRP?

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. Click down.

[Troy Millings]

Would you invest a hundred thousand dollars in xrp?

[Ian Dunlap]

At what price? See now we got to get prices.

[Troy Millings]

Current price.

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm never doing market order for nothing. Sorry. But it's not market price down.

[Troy Millings]

It's down. It's down tremendously from its all time high.

[Rashad Bilal]

Where. Where you at on xrp? Are you.

[Troy Millings]

I never believe the xrp.

[Rashad Bilal]

Okay.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

All right. We're shot every time, my brother.

[Rashad Bilal]

We need the next XRP gang.

[Ian Dunlap]

Gang, we need you.

[Rashad Bilal]

Sediment could have changed.

[Troy Millings]

XRP is a shitcoin.

[Ian Dunlap]

Whoa. They're up 33,000% all time.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, they are if you got it at 000.

[Rashad Bilal]

Wait, wait. Hold on, hold on. When did it turn the coin?

[Troy Millings]

Every XRP has been a coin.

[Ian Dunlap]

Rashad. You trolling, my boy, you trolling?

[Rashad Bilal]

That's the first I've heard. That's the first time I've heard that.

[Ian Dunlap]

Okay, my boy, try to go viral. Okay. Come on. I'm with you. Oh, it's like sweep. Sweet. So you and Troy get into it then me and you. Okay, I got you. Got you. The. You mean XRP or going Flip that up.

[Rashad Bilal]

The army with me. The army with me.

[Troy Millings]

All right.

[Ian Dunlap]

I said this in stock club though. If you do have an asset like XRP or you're a micro sailor, you have to know who your enemies are. Though you have some big enemies that will thwart you for decades until they can take the asset class over. I know a lot of the bitcoin maxis. No Blackrock. And the government didn't take it over. The first iteration of it was from Langley. I say that every two weeks and I haven't had a cease and desist yet.

[Troy Millings]

The first iteration of Bitcoin. Of bitcoin you talk about. Yes, sir.

[Ian Dunlap]

Once again, is satoshi a person or a title? Like Pope.

[Rashad Bilal]

Like Pope. That's. Who knows.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, I know, I know. The Dan Pina clip it out but it's certain. It's eras. Eras of the Ming dynasty. They had a run. Russia had a run. The island boy had a run. There's different runs, but what do I know? No, not Dame Kareem.

[Rashad Bilal]

Stop your run. One of the reasons that they called.

[Troy Millings]

The gangrene clip it up.

[Ian Dunlap]

The other reason getting the gang of Green.

[Troy Millings]

What's the top three long term holdings?

[Ian Dunlap]

I love this question and hate it at the same time. I'm not going to Give you two Tech two index. And I'm not going to say Apple and Microsoft. If I have to start today, hold them for five years. If I have to pick three Mega Cap, one would be Amgen, two would be Lily because of the tech exposure. And three would be Google. Those provide you almost little to no drawdown regardless of what the economy is going to do. Amgen and Lily are going to print money, but especially Amgen. Amgen's like I can't say a baby Lily because they're a different vocations. But the things that I loved about Lily, they have the same thing. They're just not as great. Like it's like Jordan and Kobe. Like if I can put Jordan and Kobe on the same team, I'm, I'm good Going to war with anybody.

[Troy Millings]

You said Amgen. Oh yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

No, Amgen, Lily and Google are the three.

[Troy Millings]

So those, those are your top. Those are your top three.

[Ian Dunlap]

If I had to start new today.

[Troy Millings]

Like today, right now, five years.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, yeah. Those are all three.

[Troy Millings]

Over Nvidia, over Microsoft.

[Rashad Bilal]

Who you got? Before I say who you got?

[Troy Millings]

Nvidia, Microsoft.

[Ian Dunlap]

Rashad said xrp.

[Troy Millings]

And XRP for sure. Well Bitcoin if, if we not talking just. But if it's just stocks.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, just stocks.

[Troy Millings]

Just stocks.

[Rashad Bilal]

If it's just stocks, Nvidia is, is, is one. Google will be two. It's just for the next five years.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's just next five. Yep.

[Rashad Bilal]

I don't want to invest in it but I think who I don't I'm obviously TSM would be that because that's always my number one.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, yeah, same.

[Rashad Bilal]

That's why I've said I, I think, I think that over the next five years Tesla is going to have a.

[Ian Dunlap]

Hell of a run. Even if he leaves.

[Troy Millings]

Why would he leave? He just got the billion. He just got the trillion dollar pay package. If he hits certain.

[Rashad Bilal]

I think those the metrics that he's going to meet the metrics.

[Ian Dunlap]

He can meet the metrics and leave to the company that really matter but.

[Rashad Bilal]

That he has to do it within a certain time frame. He doesn't get to the trillion. I think it's by he has to do it in like eight or nine years. So that falls within the range I think the autonomous, the robotics what he's now doing in terms of like technology and space. He'll figure out a way to incorporate that. Tesla is just such an interesting proposition for the next five years that outside of the ones you guys said, I think the return on that would be Pretty. Pretty interesting. High growth. I wouldn't want to do it, but I think it'll have a hell of a return in the next five years.

[Ian Dunlap]

And sometimes the person in the space will tell you where the economy is going. When he said, we're not a car company. I'm going to robotics straight up. That tells you the value of software is damn near. I don't like a lot of his political aspersions. I don't like how his daddy acted.

[Rashad Bilal]

Right.

[Ian Dunlap]

Like I was. Daddy raised him. What? Elon has done well, though. He knows how to pick a category that's going to dominate for 15 years, though.

[Rashad Bilal]

That's the line, bro. And that's why I thought it. I'm like, he's telling you straight up, like, yo, this isn't about car. This isn't about us making cars. In fact, that model with the whole sector, we're done making that. It. Yeah, it was nice. We. It made sense, but we're done with that now. This is where we're going.

[Troy Millings]

But even that is problematic. Hit the like button and share. We're almost at 7,000, please. Even that is problematic to me because, I mean, they're missing numbers on the cars. And now you shift into an industry once again. The bubble, it's. It's a guess. Some people can raise money and. And be off of it. Goes back to the.

[Ian Dunlap]

To the metaverse speculation.

[Troy Millings]

Or they saying that human. There's gonna be a hundred million humanoid robots. That's what they saying.

[Ian Dunlap]

That's. That's a lot.

[Troy Millings]

They also said that. They also said that real estate in the Met, in the Met, in a metaverse, was gonna be the new frontier. And Snoop Dogg. Somebody brought like a million dollars for the house next to Snoop Dogg.

[Rashad Bilal]

Who's they? That's they. They. Because people was killing Zuck for. They didn't. They didn't want to go on that ride with him.

[Troy Millings]

Well, a lot of people did, though. A lot of people brought into the metaverse. It wasn't just Zuckerberg. A lot of people heavy. So, I mean, I don't know. I just feel like Elon, like, you're basing your whole company off of a thesis of what could potentially happen. But what's currently happening. He's disappointed The. The cars and he's. He's got himself in a lot of political turmoil. When the Democrats take over, they're not just going to forget everything that he did. He's gonna have to have some level of retribution and payback for this.

[Rashad Bilal]

Well, he still got three years. And that's the crazy part. So if it's in the next five, he's still got three left.

[Ian Dunlap]

If Xai, who. Who is Xia merging with his other company?

[Rashad Bilal]

It's already done. SpaceX.

[Ian Dunlap]

That would tell you if I got an asset and Sam allegedly stole the baby that I helped create and help get funded for it. Employees and you do your super bowl commercial and I make a competitive asset and I move it over to SpaceX. It's interesting. He didn't move it over to Tesla.

[Troy Millings]

No, exactly. 100. SpaceX is not. That's. That's the one to me.

[Ian Dunlap]

Because I think he's going to do the same with Starlink and put XAI, SpaceX and Starlink into one. That's a company that most people cannot, cannot touch. The company damn near untouchable.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm not going to comment today, but I will comment next week and this will make sense when I, when I do it.

[Ian Dunlap]

Got you.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

SpaceX. But we, some point we do have to have that real conversation, though. There's luxuries that some people's afforded that other entrepreneurs are not.

[Rashad Bilal]

100%. Oh, we know.

[Ian Dunlap]

That's the metaverse. I love Zuck. Shout out to everybody. HQ at the Hudson Building. But if I delivered that metaverse and that was the losses on it, you're not.

[Rashad Bilal]

There is no second chance. You're not even getting the first chance. The idea is not getting you a first chance.

[Troy Millings]

And we're going to talk about access to capital later on the episode. But some entrepreneurs are afforded to lose hundreds of billions of dollars and then they get rewarded with hundreds of billions of dollars. Other entrepreneurs have no margin of error at all. You lose a thousand dollars and your life is over. So Elon, people like him on Wall street, but he. What is he? He's. You really think that humanoid robots is going to take over the way they like? 100 million humanoid robots? You really think that's gonna happen?

[Rashad Bilal]

Take over in what sense?

[Troy Millings]

100 million. He's. I think he said 300. Something like that.

[Ian Dunlap]

I don't know.

[Troy Millings]

I don't think.

[Rashad Bilal]

I don't think. I don't think we're in Terminator. I. I think obviously in factories and workforce. Does it change? Yeah. Will everybody have it in their homes? I don't think we're there in the next five years. I. I think you'll start to see the signs of how it improves some, like I said, workforce, maybe some forms of life. Like some things, some tasks in life. But can anybody afford it? Right when that first iteration of anything, it's usually super expensive and there's only a limited people that can afford at that price point until they figure out a model that makes sense.

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[Rashad Bilal]

Person can have we're not. We're not there yet. But. But you could. That's where they headed. You can see all systems are pointing that way. Hold on. Maybe we should stop talking about Ian.

[Troy Millings]

Where are you?

[Ian Dunlap]

Can you guys hear me?

[Rashad Bilal]

They try to get the boy out.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, you know what Elon, I'm sorry, my bad but no. Do I think there'll be 100 million humanoid robots through one company? Probability is low even if you just look at the delivery history of what he said about fsd. But like you said, some creators and founders are allowed to paint a lofty picture that's bigger than the total Addressable market.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

Like I said, if I would have pitched the metaverse and then fell, I would have been for assassinated saying what the stuff that he get to say. And they man, they criticize the hell out of Obama for putting his feet up on a desk and wearing a tan suit. There's just some liberties that are given and this is a fact. Like even I know I may be tough on Tim Cook. Steve wouldn't have missed this AI wave like this. Any other company that missed the AI wave, they're suffering. They're suffering as a result.

[Troy Millings]

So is that a model that can really be a pivot for a company that's a car company now just to go into uncharted territories and say, okay, this is the play that we're going to do Robots Robotics.

[Ian Dunlap]

I think because he's a visionary, he will be able to do it, but I ultimately think that he is going to railroad Tesla. I said a person in the comments who said Starlink is already under ownership of SpaceX. They, they have of course a partnership, but if it was completely owned by SpaceX, you wouldn't be able to invest in both rounds. So they don't solely own it. I do think upon exit he, you can put away in for your shoes to be too big to fill his are but it's also a poison pill so that the company does not thrive. Look at what he's done to the value of the company of just the cars in the last five years. At one point people were paying 80 and 90 thousand dollars for those cars. You can get some of those cars out for 22 grand. That's a hard pivot while people are sitting in a finance an option and the value of the car is less than the loan that you got.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, the, the godfather of AI said that robotics is a once in a generation opportunity and has the oppos. It has a chance to do work that we do now and will no longer want to do in the future. So he's back in that.

[Troy Millings]

Who?

[Rashad Bilal]

Jensen?

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, I mean everybody. I don't think anybody. It's like once again it's like I don't think anybody's thinking that robotics is not going to play a major part, but I just don't see 300 million robots.

[Ian Dunlap]

I don't either.

[Troy Millings]

The whole country, the human robots, factories and stuff like that. Yeah, for sure they're gonna play a major part. But like just hundreds of millions of robots just walking the streets and just in everybody's household. I don't know. I don't see that happening in five years?

[Rashad Bilal]

No, I don't think it's five years. But you think about how many people work in factories. You think about the global impact of that. You're talking like if he's talking about walking outside and it's like I said, is it Terminator? No, but if you're talking about factory work, you're talking about millions of jobs.

[Troy Millings]

But the thing is a lot of those factories have already been replaced by robot. Not in the sense of robots, like humanoid robots, but machines that do work already. That's already taken away a lot of jobs. So humanoid robots specifically different.

[Rashad Bilal]

I mean what we saw with our own eyes when we were on the tour Nvidia when we got to see what they're doing in terms of programming the agentic robots it was like damn, it was amazing.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep. Especially calibration for different space environments for sure.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, this is different.

[Troy Millings]

We'll see Microsoft under $400 a buy. What's the deal with Microsoft?

[Rashad Bilal]

Told your head Microsoft.

[Troy Millings]

How long, how far will it go? Once again will it reach under 400? It's all time high. 452 week high is $555. It's at $413 now. So it's pretty, it's pretty substantial drop. So what's the deal with Microsoft?

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, that high was in July of last year. It's been a few months. Don't love that. I think they are figuring out how to unwind this open AI relationship and partnership. If it gets to 37990 or 352. I love it. I love it at 352. Do I think we will see a bounce from here? Yes, I think what the market wants to see is more headwinds. I don't think they've been behind as much but let's be very honest, the appeal of OpenAI is slowly fading. We can talk about the super bowl commercial and if you think that their product was a hit or not but I think people are looking to see more from Microsoft and I think they'll eventually deliver. But if we're going to be honest, like remember when Rough Riders came out and there was a certain energy behind every project they were putting out at a certain point. Microsoft and Apple don't have that right now. Claude does, Anthropic does through Claude.

[Troy Millings]

But ChatGPT is still way bigger than Claude and Anthropic as far as chatbots user for sure. It's like 80% of the marketplace like they said he they still tower that space that they're the biggest in that space by a long shot.

[Ian Dunlap]

Still, hands down I agree a thousand percent. I just don't think and from what I know from the conversations I've had privately and some that's been posted publicly, Satya and executive leadership are not happy with Sam and it's reflected in the price. So if I say that I'm going to put clients on Azure with Anthropic while I'm invested in OpenAI, that's not a good sign. That's the Stefan Diggs move.

[Troy Millings]

Two for one.

[Ian Dunlap]

Hello.

[Rashad Bilal]

Is this overblown? Is this Microsoft drop overblown for sure. Right. You think about where obviously far from its all time high, we pulled down over 20% here. You look at its numbers. Yes, again the capex spend has gone up a bit. They said Azure obviously pulled back by 1%. I think they had a 38% growth instead of 39% which they reported. So like a slight miss there. The OpenAI story is the story. I feel like I said last week. There's just a bunch of companies that are just circling around that story and the fortune of that, or maybe not the fortune of that will determine how they will appreciate throughout 2026. And if they don't have a clear plan, I know that, you know, there's the ads about like hey, we're going to add revenue and why are we doing revenue? But I think they're just trying to figure out how to bring some money in and to start to start appeasing to some of its investors because if they continue at this rate, obviously Google has come into the space with their AI and we can talk about the photography, we can talk about video. Anthropic is already here. Xai is here. They're only going to get better. They're only going to get better for sure. There's a chance that those companies are going to IPO before you. And so they got to figure some things out. And Microsoft obviously having its close relationship with it, it's suffering from it. But I just feel like this is overblown. So would I have Microsoft here? Yeah, I think if you like it at 370, if you like it at 380 when it was down at 390 the other day, like you have to like it there too.

[Ian Dunlap]

You have to love it. Yeah. And once again they have a great relationship with Anthropic. So even if everything doesn't go well with Open Air, they have the replacement. From what I've heard, they're very chummy. So you won't have to worry about much loss in Copilot and the other services that they offer from AI side And if any company is going to figure it out, it's definitely going to be Microsoft.

[Rashad Bilal]

It's interesting like when we maybe a year ago, maybe two years ago it felt like each one of these was having their own like gbt. Right when we thought it was Claude it was Amazon first and The Microsoft had OpenAI and then Gemini was with Google and then now it just feels like how can we have a piece of all of it? Like we can all work together. Right. So Microsoft now is dealing with with anthropic. Right. So it's an interesting place. Yes. Sam came out today and said that they had a 10% increase in monthly users. Let's see if that can continue. Let's see if they can grow that.

[Troy Millings]

Let's see. Okay, let's talk about amd. Is AMD back and buy territory dropped last week as well. Pretty drastic drop on Thursday. So AMD is a stock that went up pretty dramatically from $76 52 week low to a 52 week high of $267. Now it's around $215. So people saw the drop. Like I said it was a pretty drastic drop actually it's now the time to start buying amd.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah I remember last year when I said telling last year that we'll get below 212 and a lot of people thought I was crazy and here we are that 195 area to 191 area. I like a hell of a lot. I think we have in deep corrections. Troy you you pointed this out. A lot of people are having margin calls and there's not okay if the highest 267and you got in at 234how much room do you have it to go up if the ceiling is actually the high A lot of people were just buying off of emotion and not based off asymmetry. So that 194 and that 195 area is a great area to buy. That will put it in your favor if we ever drop below that. Those prices are reserved for stock club but if we drop below that you're good. But I think we should bounce up from here over the next two months. February is going to be a rougher month but going into March and April I think would be pretty strong. So if you're holding for the long term you're good. If you're gambling over the next week you're going to have some issues. But that was definitely A good entry to be able to get in last week around that 196, 195 area. And then by April we should be back in the 250 range.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, I think you got again this is one of those, those, those companies that just been a firm believe in since I think I've started buying shares at $57. Yeah, this is going to be one of my thousand share companies as well. The, the story hasn't changed like that. What's what it comes down to H, has the story changed? Right. Are they still in that GPU market? Are they still in the CPU market? Did they release products? Did they talk about their future? Like Lisa sue got on CNBC and told you everything you want to hear to hear and it still sold off. Did the story change? No. Right. And so if you look back even when we were talking to Dave Shands about this and with the price that it was at and people like oh my gosh, it's left, it's left. The barn is too high for us to get it. And then it kept going and it got up to 267 and now here we're down at 195 after their earnings and people like well I don't know, I don't know. It might be some. The story hasn't changed. Sometimes you gotta have pullbacks so people can have new entries to get into a position before it goes on its next one. You don't want it to con to continue to climb.

[Ian Dunlap]

Right?

[Rashad Bilal]

Like theoretically, yes. I want the stock to go to 300. I wanted to go to 400. But at some you have to have new buy ins. Right. That's how the value increases by having new people come in with new money at good prices. So when it goes to 267 it pulls back to 195. Okay. That might be a good entry point for some capital to come in and let's see where it goes. It's at 215 now. That hasn't been 36 hours of trading. Yeah, right, that's, that's a nice turnaround.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. And you got to look at price. Last October the high was 26708. This January got to 26514 which is almost the highest. That's the zone to stop buying. Like it had a double top. If you look at a larger time frame just pulling back from those areas like regardless if you believe it or not, the market obeys certain price areas. That's why when I called that Bitcoin 20 a few years ago there's certain key levels April last year, certain lily prices. The market has trillions of data points into it. People know to stop buying at the high. Only the dumb money is fine at the all time high. Even bitcoin if you're buying at 122, 125 and it fell apart. Everyone was looking to get out at that point the high was already set in. So just wait for, for great prices. 1195 90, 196 if it ever drops to 162 mid year through the summer that's a pretty good load to boat price. If you're holding for five years you'll be good. But you have to obey the laws of price.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah we're two weeks away from the super bowl of tech and that's when Nvidia reports. And that will tell us a lot about the demand. It'll tell us a lot about the AI story and depending on how that goes you'll see how the market will move. So we're like we're two weeks away from that.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. Shout out to Dave Shands man, you know gotta, I gotta talk to the brother.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah listen three way me old school on facetime.

[Troy Millings]

Hey yo pause yo you lost. We lost you. We lost you again. Damn copyright.

[Rashad Bilal]

Who is that? Holly.

[Troy Millings]

But yeah Dave Shands he made, he made a lot of money on the options call. And speaking of options call Eyl University next week. Troy's options call classes on Thursday.

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm back.

[Troy Millings]

That happens once a month. It's become something that has become extremely popular as far as for investor in the investing community, trader community. I wish I should say for people that are interested in trading options from people that are beginning just starting out to high level advanced in my opinion the best options community online and real world results. So make sure you mark your calendar because they are timely. The calls are timely like if you watch the replay you might have missed something. So mark your calendar next Thursday for choice options class.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm back.

[Troy Millings]

And then also for you university we do we have regional meetup groups that we've been doing. We've been going to different parts of the country and the next part we're going to is Miami. So if you're in the Florida area or if you just want to come to Miami if only if you're in white.

[Ian Dunlap]

What date is that?

[Rashad Bilal]

Is March 29th.

[Ian Dunlap]

March 29th, March 29th market calendars.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah yeah yeah. Shout out to everybody in the community. Shout out to everybody. And we're just going to give this away to them tonight. Eylu, we talked about Corning. Corning Ticker GLW a couple, maybe a couple months ago, if you looked over the past month, I mean it's probably been one of the best performing stocks in the S P. Sure had another crazy day today. It was one of the top three performers in the S P and already after hours is up another $3.

[Ian Dunlap]

Man.

[Rashad Bilal]

Corning, we've been in that since like $83, bro.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

So to watch it go here and, and understand the story. And then we broke down the story and saw who they were working with. Their potential partnership show. Oh my gosh. Hell of a story. And I see a lot of people put it in the community. They're up 200. Some people have better percentage gains than me, which is incredible. I think that's incredible. So shout out to all y'.

[Troy Millings]

All.

[Rashad Bilal]

But yeah, I'm back, man. I'm back. I'm cooking up and it's going to be exciting. I might bring some friends with me. You never know.

[Ian Dunlap]

That'd be great.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, you never know.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. Make sure you tap into that. If you got the app, if you want UI University, download the app, get access. You go to eyluniversity.com but just remember EY University, man, that's we've been cooking up in there. So shout out to everybody after making money. That's. That's a community of traders and people that really want to just, you know, level up in, in their, in their journey.

[Rashad Bilal]

I see you, Jermaine. Okay, Jermaine. Yeah, VRT too. Shout out to verdict if we're killing on that.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

What time is the options class on Thursday?

[Rashad Bilal]

7 o'.

[Ian Dunlap]

Clock.

[Troy Millings]

7 o'. Clock. 7 o' clock standard time. Let's talk about Robin Hood. Is Robin Hood a still a bitcoin play tied to that or does it have some level of autonomy? And is Robin Hood at generational buy levels currently?

[Ian Dunlap]

Great question. I'm still super bullish on Robin Hood to those you in stock club who got it at the price that I call Great job. It's a lot of conversation on what is a bitcoin proxy or not. Will it give you some exposure? Loosely. It's not the pure like I bid is a better exposure play for a cheaper price. But I love Robin Hood. I think it came to a price in which I really like. So that 77 area or 78 bucks is a great buy in area. Like most of the market is going through a little bit of tumultuous times. Right now but it give it three months and I think it would be a. Okay. The like Troy said earlier, the story hasn't changed on Robin Hood. I just think that the market overall and the economy is having some issues. And I'll go back to the point that I brought up at the top of the show. The credit card jumped from 13.8 billion to 1.3 trillion. Like I don't know if most people know. Just because you're doing well in the market it doesn't mean that a lot of companies or people are. So I think the overall pullback is reflective of the fear and the economy and leadership. But I definitely love Robin Hood long term. It's probably the only brokerage company I would want to invest in long term. I'm usually anti broke brokerage.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. I think when you invest you got to look where the future's headed. And if you, if you speak to any young people and even people who are beginning or learning how to invest, that's, that's what they, they're using. I, I put it in, in my top picks of 2026. It hit some numbers here.

[Ian Dunlap]

Me too.

[Rashad Bilal]

Thursday we'll talk about it some more and show you exactly what we're going to be doing. But yeah, I love Robin Hood. We talked about it in detail in terms of what they've added, how they've paid attention to their investors, how they've paid attention attention to the youth, the partnerships that they're making with the government. Potentially they're in a nice position. Yes. Obviously bitcoin plays a lot of it because people do trade cryptocurrency on that. Predictive markets are in there now, options trading. When we start to see an uptick here in the NASDAQ or I mean The Dow's at 15. So usually that those are good signs for a brokerage like, like Robin Hood because a lot of people trade on there and that volume brings in more money which brings in more capital for them. So yeah, I'm bullish on them.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. And Vlad's not entrepreneur that you want to bet against and it's not because of our personal relationship. If we did know him, my sentiment would be the same the way he just innovated through the market. The last and the COVID test for him when they had the anti Robin Hood campaign made him a great CEO battle tested. I wouldn't, I would not bet against him long term.

[Rashad Bilal]

Been through some things.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. Trump said the Dow is going to hit 100,000 before the end of his presidency.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yo, that cap.

[Troy Millings]

But it's not, it's not everything. It doesn't. It's not, it's not as ridiculous as it sounds. Is it, Is it something that is a, is a, is a kind of.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's a lofty target.

[Troy Millings]

It's a lofty target. Yes, for sure. But it's not, it's not as crazy as it sounds. And you think about two years ago, the Dow was at 38, 38,000. So five years ago the Dow was at 30, 31,000. So I mean it would have to double in the next three years. Like it's a lofty. That's a good word that you use. It's a lofty target. But it's not, it's not completely impossible. It's not like he, it's not. He didn't say something that was completely.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah. He didn't say 250. Yeah, yeah. What, what companies would he have to take out in order? That was my. I don't. You know. But he's gonna have to take out. Well, not he, but. Well, he can make the call. There's some companies that should go that Nike first on the chopping block. Shout to Mark Parker and everyone there. Travelers may have to go. Disney, your time has come. Kudos to the new CEO. I hope you're able to write the ship. But in order to get that kind of return, especially with the way the Dallas weighted, you're going to have to have some blockbuster years. And regardless of your political situation or what you believe in, the spending is getting so high, it's almost unfathomable to think that the, that this is going to be sustainable and companies are going to be able to thrive under this environment for another three or four years. So. But Disney has to go. Nike has to go immediately. Immediately. Wrap it up.

[Rashad Bilal]

We couldn't have started with like, maybe, I don't know, something else. Cisco.

[Ian Dunlap]

Like who?

[Rashad Bilal]

Cisco.

[Ian Dunlap]

Oh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rashad Bilal]

Sherman Williams.

[Ian Dunlap]

Something I don't know about Southern Nike. It's me. It wasn't Troy Rashad.

[Rashad Bilal]

Appreciate it. We can't. Sherman Williams. What, what is the indicator that that has on, on the economy? Home building. Like what?

[Ian Dunlap]

Home building. It definitely is reflective and if you look.

[Troy Millings]

Sure.

[Ian Dunlap]

Okay. It's on me. This is Ian Red Panda. Sherman Williams is outperform Nike.

[Troy Millings]

Sherman Williams.

[Rashad Bilal]

Good paint.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

Maybe quality product. Yeah. Sherman Williams.

[Rashad Bilal]

Sherman Williams.

[Jessica Spalding]

Okay.

[Troy Millings]

It's necessary. It's necessary.

[Ian Dunlap]

And to those of you who watch the show at Nike, I hope that you are elevated so your vision can take Nike to New horizons. Back to you, Troy. Rashad.

[Rashad Bilal]

Thank you.

[Ian Dunlap]

Gotcha. Thank you, thank you.

[Troy Millings]

Mu. Micron.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, the boy wonder.

[Troy Millings]

Is Micron set up for a short term run?

[Rashad Bilal]

Okay. No, you go.

[Ian Dunlap]

Short answer. Yes. If we get a pullback it would be great. Like hypothetical. If we got to 30630 or 340, that would be a great entry. I think Micron is entering that space like AMD and Nvidia where any deep dip you have to buy it and if you are not looking to hold for long term, you're going to have deep regret in two or three years. So I know there's some conversations online on if it's going to tumble 40 or 50%. This is not one of those companies. This is not one of those companies. I would not. If you're on this train, Nvidia, amd, Micron, tsm, you don't. This is not the train to get off of at all.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, this is the boy wonder right here. This is again, this is a market Mondays. Okay. This is a market Monday's favorite.

[Troy Millings]

Mike, Mike just does what Mike does.

[Rashad Bilal]

How you doing?

[Troy Millings]

How you doing?

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, so this is favorite. I talked about this when they, when they were 83. Yeah, I'm with you. Short term run for sure. I think we, what we have to watch coming up here is where that memory, high bandwidth memory, where will it live? There are some talks obviously the stack is sold out up until 2027 but the hyperscaler partner was Nvidia. The other hyper scalar partner is AMD and so there's a stronghold there. There are some talks that Ruben might be the next GPU from Nvidia or the next iteration of GPUs from Nvidia might lead with SK high next inside of its GPU. So we'll see. We'll see. But Micron, I, I think I told Shaid is maybe at the top of the year. I said my end of the year price target for micron was 350 and we've surpassed that.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, it's already passed that. Yep.

[Rashad Bilal]

The way I'm looking at it now, would I be surprised by end of year based on the demand and the continued demand? If it gets to 500, I would not be surprised. I'm with Micron, I've been with Micron. If you've been with Micron, shout out to you. Put your percentage in the chat real quick. It's been a hell of a return. Shout out to everybody that had conviction and believed in the story. Now we're seeing the Benefits of it in the entire memory story. So, yeah, I'm with it. I'm staying here.

[Ian Dunlap]

And in the perfect world, can hit 600, to be very honest.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm glad you said that. I'm gonna send you something.

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm gonna send you something. I got a 602. 28 end of year.

[Rashad Bilal]

I'm glad you said that.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep. Clip it up, team. My team and interwebs.

[Troy Millings]

Clip. Put in chat, chat, chat. Okay. All right, let's bring our guest up. We got, we got a guest. How are you?

[Jessica Spalding]

Hey.

[Troy Millings]

Hey.

[Jessica Spalding]

How you doing? I'm trying to.

[Rashad Bilal]

Let me.

[Ian Dunlap]

Good. How are you?

[Troy Millings]

I'm good.

[Rashad Bilal]

A little more.

[Troy Millings]

A little. Yeah.

[Jessica Spalding]

All right.

[Rashad Bilal]

There we go. Perfect.

[Troy Millings]

How you doing?

[Jessica Spalding]

There we go. I'm good, I'm good. How you doing?

[Troy Millings]

Good. Very good.

[Ian Dunlap]

Thank you for being here.

[Jessica Spalding]

Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

[Troy Millings]

Jessica Spalding. This is an interesting and it's an important story to tell. So shout out to Adrian Walton, our mutual friend, a butter legend, put us together last last year and then, you know, had to reintroduce the situation recently. But long story short, Jessica is an entrepreneur who owns the Harlem Chocolate Factory. Staple. Staple in Harlem. And have come across some unfortunate situations. But it's a. I'm gonna let you tell a story because you could tell it obviously better than I can. But it's an important conversation that I think we need to have as far as entrepreneurship, small businesses in our community, access to capital, brick and mortar, different things of that nature. So can you tell it? Can you tell a story to kind of open it up?

[Jessica Spalding]

Yeah, I mean, the, the quick overview is we started the business and in 2015, after I joined a business plan competition and I was unemployed and I found out about the competition while I was at the library with my kids. And I wound up winning the competition to start my business for $15,000. But I started to learn right after that how media coverage can also tank you. Because immediately that winter we went into 250 media kits given out by Sam Adams and we were flooded with orders. And I was working out of a little six foot table in a commercial kitchen. And so it was just like really a really rapid growth. We went from a two foot table in the back of a brownstone selling our products to now being in like major tourist attractions and selling out every week. And then from there we went to the fancy food show and got selected as like the best bites at the show. And so I'm like, okay, we need to find a larger production Space at the time Amazon reached out and wanted this huge six figure order. And so I'm like, let me find a production space, let me find a production space. And I couldn't find one and I couldn't find the capital to find a space that was big enough for us to really produce in. So we found the store and the thing that I didn't realize I was doing was I was changing my business model. I had been doing wholesale and doing corporate gifting and that's manageable with a small team. The introduction of retail and brick and mortar completely shifted the model. And it feels like, okay, I'm making so much more money or the sales are different because they're in the face. But now I have this very, very important part, especially for a black owned business, which is customer service. I'm spending 45 minutes explaining to people why my chocolate costs more than what's at the corner store. And customer education and customer acquisition and then distribution for each and every individual order. Where before I'm boxing 100 bars at a time and shipping it out in one box. Now Tamika want six chocolates and I gotta spend a half an hour making sure every six chocolate is correct and goes to her office. And it really, really, really became a struggle to manage in such a small space. Our kitchen is 200 square feet and we were pumping out thousands of bars. And we've sustained and carried on this time, but at my sacrifice. And so people are like, okay, well let me get you more orders, let me get you more orders. And I'm like, you're actually low key, drowning me.

[Ian Dunlap]

You're crippling you.

[Jessica Spalding]

Yeah, you actually. And trying to explain the economics of why more ordering actually has put us in a worser financial position has been really, really difficult to communicate to people who are like, we support you and we love you and people mad at us because you're not open. And I'm like, I have to be closed because I have to satisfy contracts that actually make us money because I'm basically breaking even in this retail space. So it's just, it's led us to really, really, really pay attention to how we need to shift the model and do the thing that I was afraid to do in the first place, which is go after what we truly needed, which was a larger production space and, and satisfying larger clients and larger contracts.

[Rashad Bilal]

When you say larger clients, larger contracts, that's inside of the new model. I'm assuming what, what else is, is entailing inside the new model? Because this is interesting, right? People would think if I bring in more revenue that would help the business. But I'm like you're saying like, hold on. We have to catch up to our obligations to actually make sure this makes sense. So what is, what have you done internally to design the new model?

[Jessica Spalding]

So what we did is we identified key partnerships that would allow us to scale out. So we have to reach a specific price point in a specific volume to have the profitability to grow the rest of the business. Right. Like it's a different model because now our terms are net 60, net 30. I mean I'd be trying to get due on receipt for, for certain, certain partnerships, but identifying people that had enough growth for us to start at this smaller level but then also scale with them. So we have. I cannot mention, I asked for permission to mention it today, but I cannot mention it today. But it rhymes with All Star. You'll be seeing a, a new partnership this week that we're, that we're launching that again just allows us to open up doors to larger volumes. Because especially for chocolate, this is not like any other CPG business. The CPG business, the next break point might be 2,500 and then I can go to a co packer. I'm competing at the co packers, I'm competing with grocery stores, I'm competing with big brands. So my little, oh, I got a 2,500 bar order. They're like, Baby, that's going to cost us $8 a bar to make for you. And so we're not really seeing a break point until we're in the high. You know, we're in a six, a six figure kind of like unit number. So by having these partnerships that allows us to really negotiate with co packers or even if we're taking on production ourselves to increase our volume. Because now I have something to kind of like bet against with it when it comes to funding. I just thought that I have all these eyes on my business. I can give funding and it's not when I talk to venture, when I talk to investors, they're like, you not going to grocery? And I'm like, no, that's where our business would go to die. Because that's what everybody else did and that's why their businesses are closing. But it's a non traditional model. And so they're like, well, prove that it works first and come back. So the partnerships are just at a larger scale for us to say like, hey, over the course of this year we're going to do 100,000 bars with this one company. Or we're going to do 50,000 bars with this one company and that gives us a little bit more leverage when it comes to proving that this has scalability versus I'm going to try to convince 50 more people to come in here per day.

[Ian Dunlap]

Knowing everything that you know. Now for the entrepreneurs watching tonight, how would you identify what's the perfect business model for your business? Because we always are taught more is better, right? Scaling. I even seen a comment, someone said why not start a venture fund? More is not always better, right? So how if you can go back, I know you said your business model is different, but oftentimes the different business model is the one that's going to lead the way. How would you identify what your perfect business model is?

[Jessica Spalding]

I think that if I was able to restart, I would start with the equations that I've created now, right? Like what's the volume of, of products that I need to make in order to sustain at a specific margin for not only operation but for my own life. Like there's all the statistics. Black women, we're the fastest group of entrepreneurs. We're the most educated, most everything. But the reality is we make the least amount of revenue out of every group. We are over educated in degrees that don't actually make money. Like we have the lowest, our degrees are the lowest income generating degrees. So there's the other side. We're in a lot of the marketing around it. And I know for myself my face was used as a part of many, many, many campaigns to show love and support for black women. But I think that when I get back to the forefront of it that I would really make sure that my business had me in it and was and whatever model I was choosing made sure that there was some version of salary for me. Maybe not a big ticket item, maybe not whatever so that I can make these decisions more clearly. A lot of this business model shifting is out of a place of for no better words but desperation. Like I need cash in here now this contract, they love us and everything but they're not going to pay me for 60 days and that's after I get all of my paperwork uploaded for them to even process the ach. And then what happens when Sheila go have a baby and then my invoice don't get processed. You know, like there are real life things that can, you know, derail you. So when you're choosing a business model and when you're choosing a price point, I think that we have this idea that we want to be these like mega billionaires but you might be more profitable at a, at a $250,000 a year, you know, like price point. You might be able to take more margin out of that than if you was trying to. I feel like slow globally, like I from myself I realized we've been really boxing above our weight class trying to do this direct to consumer model and reach all these individuals. That takes money like, you know, and it takes dedicated staff, human capital. There was a real benefit to not having to pay for staffing for some other businesses. You know, they had 500 years of free labor. I don't have that. My cousin want to come work for me. My cousin bills ain't gonna go nowhere. I have to pay her for the day. She can't volunteer. She might could volunteer at night after work, but I need somebody during the day. I need somebody to answer the phone. And AI is doing a lot to help and assist, but there are real physical human capital needs that I would consider and incorporate into whatever model I was choosing. And I think we confuse models with sales channels and thinking that like, oh, we're just adding another sales line and you're really shifting your entire model. If it requires you to operate differently, then it's a different model and it's not an additional sales channel.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, I wanted to bring you on, I want just to put it in perspective for people. So yeah, you've become a staple in the community as far as Harlem Chocolate Factory. But I thought it was as important. It's like a real life case study because we bring a lot of entrepreneurs on and a lot of times the stories are extremely success story. You're a success story also, but you're facing hard times right now. Right. So I think that this is real education that people can actually learn from because there's ups and downs in entrepreneurship. It's not always somebody making a million dollars a month and somebody that's killing it and stuff like that. Like we've highlighted that story a lot. But I think it's also important to highlight people that may have currently be going through rough patches right now. So talk specifically about where the business is right now. I know that you're in a business, you're currently closing the, the physical location. Right. And then also talk about how like the access to capital conversation and how you were actually on New York City's website. Yes, explain that, explain that part of it.

[Jessica Spalding]

Right. Like I do a lot of like behind the scenes work because I, I, I mean I literally needed money for myself because I there, there's also A reality. Right. Like, I'm. I don't want to even participate in my own gaslighting where I pretend like there wasn't a sacrifice that went into scaling this. Right. Like, the original SWOT analysis said that this was capital intensive and it was going to be hard and the market is saturated and all these things, and the only way in was through this niche. But the. What I did is I built like a platform for myself because I am extremely. I find myself to be honest about what it really takes to build a business. I'm not going to front for you. I'm not going to pretend like, you know, like, oh, whatever. I've been on Oprah's favorite things I did and they called me twice and all of that. And I could do all of that and I could swing. But what does that do for anyone? If the reality is when I go for funding, I get turned down. When I've tried to raise money for, for, for contracts, they. They shift the goal posts. And so I think I just got to a place of frustration because my face was on the New York City's fund finder. I. I launched this GoFundMe campaign after I got rejected for accounts receivable funding. I don't want to close our store. The goal is to.

[Troy Millings]

Let's slow it down a little bit. Let's. Let's take. Your face was on New York City's Go explain that.

[Jessica Spalding]

It's. It's called the, it's called the funds finder, right? Like, that's a website.

[Troy Millings]

New York City, where you, you go to. You go to get money for your business.

[Jessica Spalding]

Yes. Where you find funds. It's literally the funds finder.

[Troy Millings]

You were essentially the poster child for that. Your face was on there. Yes, but you couldn't get funding.

[Jessica Spalding]

Zero funding options available is what it said to me. And that becomes the thing, right? Like, people are like, oh, well, you have all these connections. Like, you good. Like, you could get funding whenever. And I'm like, yeah, you know where the funding comes from? Me, I keep my salary in that business every year. Like, we are still here at my sacrifice. And so people were like, responding to our GoFundMe by saying, like, well, you want funds finder? Or there's like, hey, I found the link to the New York City Funds Finder. Go on there. Like, oh, wait, your face is on there. So I kept getting it and kept getting it. So I literally made the video to show, like, there are no funds. There were no funds. Like, it was 0 from 250k plus to, to less than 10,000. I. There was no funds.

[Rashad Bilal]

So how did they respond to. Have they responded to this? Like, what, what's the update? Obviously you brought this to their attention. Obviously you're getting hit up and it's like, yo, this is, this press is actually working negative for me because people think I got it. They not likely to help if they think I got it. It's just unfortunately, how have they responded since you brought it to their attention? Obviously they put you there. They know it.

[Jessica Spalding]

They called me to told me that they took the picture down and that I should find some grants to apply for.

[Ian Dunlap]

Which grants are not the easiest thing just to. For those who don't know, they just don't fall out the sky.

[Troy Millings]

Why, why they put the picture up there to begin with?

[Jessica Spalding]

I think that, I think that black women are the marketing. I think that it's very, very easy. I think that's the way in to prove that you, like, show support for the community. And I think black women sometimes are very, very. And I can't. Let me not talk for all black women. I think that there are times that I've approached entrepreneurship, happy to be invited, and it's encouraged an air that I'm easy to take advantage of. And so I snapped and I went online and I told the whole world that there was no funds because normally I'm quiet and I don't say nothing because maybe it could help someone else. And black women are very, very amenable. And you know that we get this rap about our attitudes, but I've seen women cry after haircuts and when their nails is messed up so we don't say anything. And I said something this time, so they took the picture down. Still no funds. They connected me to another funder who had already rejected funding me. But I guess people are moving now. But it's like a eight to 12 week process. And I'm like, I needed money years ago. And so it's just literally like I would never want to turn to my community that I already know is facing things to like beg for money. But where we're at in this and especially on the precipice of these partnerships, I'm like, nah, I, I've taken, I've taken all the Ls that I'm gonna take. And I can only come to people and be transparent about where we are and what we have going on and ask for some assistance. Because my goal ultimately is to help my community. Like this ain't Jessica Spalding's chocolate factory. This is Harlem's. And so I feel like I'm just a steward of the opportunity. And so it's worth the fight and the embarrassment because somebody just left a comment before I came on here telling me I should stop begging and all different type of losers and whatever. I took a screenshot of you and you in my file of all the people who ever talked about me, because I plan to come back around the block, but you from my tribe.

[Troy Millings]

No, no, no.

[Jessica Spalding]

For real, for real. Like, I grew up on 111 between 5th and Linux. I've lived in Harlem my whole life. Stop playing with me. Y' all be talking very crazy on this Internet, and I'm trying to be.

[Rashad Bilal]

Then stop playing on Beyonce Internet, please, please.

[Jessica Spalding]

When you don't get nothing.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, but. But a lot of people are going through pain and take it out on others to have a successful business. What pushback were they giving you for not giving funding for those who are looking to pitch?

[Troy Millings]

What.

[Ian Dunlap]

What roadblocks were they putting in front of you to tell. You know.

[Jessica Spalding]

I will tell you that the amount of goal posting that I have faced during this. So it's like when I first started and I was in. There was money at the bottom. When I had the sad story, the single mom that, you know, I have my two kids and. And. And. And I don't have my life together, and I'm going to, you know, try to find a job. They was throwing money at me. I got a micro loan when I had no job. So it built in me that, like, okay, well, if I prove that I have whatever, I'm gonna get it. Then they gave me 10,000 and I paid it back. And then they gave me 20,000. I paid it back. And then it was 10. Time to, like, put your money where your mouth is. And I'm like, yo, I want to build out this facility. I think that we can really, like, grow contracts. I found a way in. Into this industry. Then it was like, ooh, too risky. We don't know if you too risky. Like, o. What you're going to do. What. What do you. Everything. I just said I was going to do the things that I. I did them. And so the goalpost moves. It was, get a contract and come back, come with a contract. Yeah, but how do we know it sells? Like, airports? Like, people don't even spend money in airports. Huh. Okay, hotels. I mean, are people even staying at hotels anymore? Is there any? Like, what? Then I'm like, all right, let me come back with the invoice. I'm gonna come back with the invoice. Yeah, but you didn't ship the product yet, so, you know, this doesn't really funder, you know, fall under accounts receivable. You need growth capital. Okay, well, you look at the growth. Give me the capital. Yes. But you know what we would really want is the. Is the contract. I can't get the contract until I give them the product, and they. That they see that it sells. Yeah. So after it sells, then we'll do it. But we know it sells because it's been selling, because I got 10 years of historical data that it sells. What? And that's when I realized, like, oh, everybody's lying to me. Y' all hate me, and let me just stop. And I just did the GoFundMe, and I was like, here, boom. Like, let me do this. And then I'm gonna double back and charge everybody twice. And I have a list I want you to know. You're all in my little black book.

[Ian Dunlap]

Allegedly.

[Rashad Bilal]

We're just trying not to make.

[Jessica Spalding]

Not in that way, but just like, yo, you know, because these same people. When the cameras come out, I know what y' all are gonna do. Y' all wanna pull up. Y' all wanna. Oh, let me take a picture.

[Ian Dunlap]

I'm so proud of you.

[Jessica Spalding]

I'm so proud. And we knew you was gonna make it. I want you to know I know who all you are, and I am. It's me and 50. You will not get in. You will be standing outside. You will not get in. I am very nice. I'm very sweet. I. I don't have. I. I know.

[Rashad Bilal]

But we're gonna pray for them now. We're gonna pray for them.

[Troy Millings]

So chocolate factory is definitely a staple in the community. Explain the GoFundMe. Explain the GoFundMe. What's it for? What's the goal? Yeah, and it. Yeah, explain that.

[Jessica Spalding]

So it's. Yeah. So what we. What we're trying to do is we have, like, so some specific debts that we need to clear in order to just free up cash flow. Then on the other side, there are deposits that we need to make immediately in order to fulfill these contracts. And if we wait, we're going to be outside the window, and we're not going to be able to fully take advantage of them. And so the GoFundMe, we're trying to raise 50k, and if we could get to 100, y' all would literally be saving my little life. But 50 is what we need to, like, you know, like, really make these specific investments. To have that leverage the way that we need to for our cash flow and really not be waiting for 60 days for, for the invoices to clear and be able to go out after even more contracts.

[Troy Millings]

And what's the, what's the, what's the website or what's the Instagram? How can people, if they're interested, where do they go?

[Jessica Spalding]

You can go to harlemchocolate factory.com and we have the link there. And then on our Instagram, it's Harlem Chocolate Factory. The link is in our bio. Ultimately, I want to create an entity with like, with community shares. Like, I'm still researching on how to do that and how to set up the structure because I want the community to have shares in it. This is a temporary need that we.

[Ian Dunlap]

Have.

[Jessica Spalding]

That will help us bridge and.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, well, thank you for coming on.

[Jessica Spalding]

Thank you for having me.

[Troy Millings]

Really appreciate your story and I'm going to encourage everybody to, to try to give what they can because it's important. You know, we got trying to save a black business a vital part of our community. We understand that entrepreneurship is a real gateway. And you talk about businesses, you know, it employs people, it gives level of inspiration, hope and is the whole economic system that's done. And when you think of Harlem, you think of the mecca of black culture going back from, you know, 1920s Harlem Renaissance and Sugar Hill and all of that. So, you know, it's the, it's the season of giving. Some people say Christmas is the season of giving, but it's Black History Month. So I feel like February is the season of giving. And we wanted to highlight you just, you know, for educational purposes. But also, you know, we have a platform. So we try to try to do good with our platform when we can as far as to help people that are have some level of need because we're all going to need help at some point in time. And it's a good story as far as what you've been able to accomplish and would love to see, you know, the trajectory, you know, change on the situation. So yes, go to harlem chocolate factory.com if, if you're interested and we will definitely stay in contact. Wish you all the best and thank you for coming and telling your story. Greatly appreciate it.

[Rashad Bilal]

We appreciate you.

[Jessica Spalding]

Thank you so much.

[Rashad Bilal]

Thank you for sharing.

[Jessica Spalding]

Appreciate you. Thank you guys.

[Ian Dunlap]

Business isn't easy. I commend her honesty for all of the people who may be watching in the comments and like, why don't you approach it this way? It's not just about the pitch and the product. Rashad just told you there are certain entrepreneurs and CEOs who get it afforded a million failures with businesses that don't work for those. You say, hey, she should go to Shark Tank. You beat a shark. If I've made you money, I hate that. Yo, why don't you go here? Why don't you give it if I've made you money?

[Rashad Bilal]

Because we hear, that's why. Because we're here. That's the reason why, man. It's. It's. It's a. It's a telltale sell sign of the times, how stuff works in our culture, man. Like, we're not getting the funding. And even when we have the idea and we have the product, she says she has 10 years of data of sales, right? The goalpost moves. Then it's the. It's the next thing, and it's the next thing. And even when you get paid, yo, it's net 60. That's tough, man. Like, we always talk about. We joke about it like, y', all, I need net now because I don't have time for net 90, because net 90 turns into net 120. And then 120 turns into, like, now I gotta get my lawyers. And now I have people to pay, contracts to fulfill. How do I keep my business running? It's ridiculous.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's ridiculous, especially even on our side. But they're afraid of the retaliation from in Washington.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah, 100. And just to have her on the face of the website, that's crazy. So, yeah, get what you can, if you can, but, you know, it's one of these things. We got to help each other out. And entrepreneurship businesses is vitally important. Brick and mortar businesses is hard. You know, that's one of the reasons we. We never really started a brick and mortar business. But they are. They are essential on a certain level. They do provide a certain service. So, man, there's so many businesses that are going. Are going out of business. Like, you know, like I said, I think that's why I was important, because we're gonna highlight dawn peoples and we're gonna highlight billionaires, but there's a lot of black businesses that will not make it this to the summer. There's a lot of black businesses that. And we already are underserved as far as entrepreneurship are concerned. And it's. It's. It's pretty alarming. And number one reason why most businesses fail is because they don't have access to capital.

[Ian Dunlap]

It's a real thing by design.

[Troy Millings]

It's a real thing. So man, it's a lot of businesses. It's tough times right now, man. It's a recession out here. It's a lot of businesses that's going belly up. What that means is that employees, they, they're unemployed. The entrepreneur is no longer able to buy from other entrepreneurs because entrepreneurs patronize other entrepreneurs. Supply. There's a supply chain in any business. So it's a domino effect. And yeah, it's an unfortunate situation for sure. But that's one of the things we always try to do. Even with Invest Fest, you know, vendor Marketplace, you know, Those is over 400 businesses. We don't get a cut of any of that. You know, that's people just, just selling their products, food trucks that line up. We try to highlight, we've highlighted so many different businesses, entrepreneurs and you know, just, we do what we can. We have a platform, we have some level of influence. So we try to do what we can even outside of education, just helping people like you know, highlighting people. You never know what, what that could, what that could lead into in the future. Sometimes in life you just got to do good, good things because it could potentially come back to you or, or maybe doesn't come back to you, but it still helps people. If you can help somebody, why would you not help them?

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep. And you never know when you may be in need a lot of money. Yeah. Karmic retribution is, is real. Regardless of what you believe in. You have to put out the energy in the world that you want to receive. But and in light of it, regardless of race, every, every business sector is going through hell. I'm, I'm telling you, like Figma went public, great company, down 80 something percent like we're seeing. So if these companies are drawn down 40 and 50, what do you think the average business is doing? And like she said, then they'll play the game of not giving you the money for 200 days and but the window to execute on the product to the store that you needed, that window's now gone.

[Rashad Bilal]

Okay. And she has business, she has a book of business. She just needs more time to fulfill the actual book of business. And it's tough when you don't get the capital from other to fulfill that book of business. So it's a tough proposition, man. Yeah, it's just, you know, when we talk about some of these businesses, I was watching a firm and what they're trying to do now where they're allowing you to pay your, your rent in a bi weekly manner, like.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yep.

[Rashad Bilal]

It's just like capital all there. Yeah. Yeah. That buy now, pay later is now turned into home, which is scary. Yeah, yeah.

[Troy Millings]

Spooky hours. Spooky hours. But, you know, fight the good fight. Fight the good fight. Entrepreneurs out there. Yeah. Every dollar helps. But if you're an entrepreneur, you're going through tough times right now. Just, you know, stay the course, stay focused. It's needed. Entrepreneurship is needed for sure.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. But before we get out of here real quick, the we got some. Some earnings this week. We talked about rabblehood. They report after. After market tomorrow, after market closes. We got cloud fair tomorrow. Wednesday, we got. Who's on here? Is that. We just talked about Cisco Vertiv reports before the market opens. Shopify reports Thursday. We got a resale where she talked about applied materials reports. So there's still some. Some. Some big companies out here. Tulsa is a company. We talked about DraftKings. I'm interested in seeing what they did. Nibus reports. I think this is their first one. N this their first?

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah, I think so.

[Rashad Bilal]

Y first and second. So, yeah. Be interested to see how they're doing in terms of that data center, AI rental, GPU story.

[Troy Millings]

Somebody said, I wish churches would do this with their congregation. That's a good idea.

[Ian Dunlap]

I agree. A th percent. Praise God.

[Troy Millings]

100%. Pick a business a month. The building's already up.

[Ian Dunlap]

Hello. Campus look like Indiana University.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yo, you go every puppy looking at the thermometer moved. You like, yo, yo, the thermometer ain't moving four years, man. What's going on?

[Troy Millings]

The building something different.

[Rashad Bilal]

The building has been funded that the moment is crazy. Praise God, man.

[Ian Dunlap]

I love that. I just wish more would do it. That have the means to do so.

[Rashad Bilal]

Praise God.

[Troy Millings]

Oh, yeah. I think what you call did that Jamal Bryant shout out to him. Shout out to him. He did do that. Shout out to him. But yeah, they definitely. Yeah. All right.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yo, y' all be good, man. Blackout Wednesday, 9 o' clock, eyl Thursday.

[Ian Dunlap]

Man, super toxic.

[Rashad Bilal]

Good love to your loved ones spread. Yo, they said next year. Now we got a real dilemma. Super bowl is February 14th next year. How they play that?

[Ian Dunlap]

That's smart.

[Troy Millings]

Super bowl businesses. Businesses are going to suffer. A lot of restaurants is going to suffer because ain't nobody trying to go to a restaurant on super bowl And.

[Rashad Bilal]

It'S in LA next year. Super Bowl. LA.

[Ian Dunlap]

Oh, what a time.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah. 2028.

[Troy Millings]

Atlanta.

[Rashad Bilal]

Atlanta, get ready.

[Ian Dunlap]

Oh, wow.

[Rashad Bilal]

Super bowl headed your way. 2028. Yeah.

[Ian Dunlap]

And I want to send thoughts and prayers to. Well, let me first. Congratulations to Ari performing that super bowl ec. I see you. Proud of you. I want to get my thoughts and prayers to Chris Senegal on the loss of his son. That's heartbreaking, Christine.

[Troy Millings]

Also for the loss of his father.

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, his dad passed away.

[Ian Dunlap]

What?

[Rashad Bilal]

Yeah, his dad passed away. Lil John lost his son this weekend, bro. Yeah, it's, it's up, man.

[Troy Millings]

Yeah. Chris Senegal. Hold your head. Chris saying hold your head for sure, man.

[Ian Dunlap]

Yeah.

[Troy Millings]

Definitely two people that, you know, we've been, we, we, wow. Did stuff with, had a more earn your leisure, invest fest, all types of stuff like that. So yeah, man, definitely two different perspectives as far as losing a parent, losing a son. But neither one is easy. So condolences, thoughts and prayers to both of those brothers. And yeah, little John as well. I don't know the brother, but that's, that's, that's a very unfortunate situation.

[Rashad Bilal]

And is it? It's still. Happy birthday to Chuck. Chuck. What's good? He hit me up the other day.

[Troy Millings]

Today's birthday.

[Rashad Bilal]

Tomorrow, tomorrow's birthday. Fee. What up?

[Troy Millings]

Happy birthday, Taylor, man.

[Rashad Bilal]

Love and blessings to everybody. I'll be good, be safe. Love each other, spread love sometimes to come back. We all we got but we all we need. You know that love is love.

[Ian Dunlap]

Big facts, dc. See you soon.

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